Three Beats of War Peace and Revolution
by Chase Yuy
Summary: this is a repost. This deals with the same characters as out of Anna-chan's and my story TIME AND TIME AGAIN, but this is in a different time line. The boys never died and they never thought they died.
1. A New Enemy, and Old Friend

Title: The Three Beats of War, Peace, and Revolution  
  
Author: Chase Yuy  
  
Disclaimers: I don't own any of the characters from Gundam W, nor do I own Anna, Ryuujin, or Lydia. They are owned by my friends.  
  
Rating: PG-13 to begin with, some parts will NOT be appropriate for young audiences because of the blood shed in it. I like to make the scenes as clear as possible. This would not be good for young children or those with weak stomachs.. _ Gomen ne. I'll give a warning before I do it.  
  
A/N: I'm beginning this rewrite of 3 Beats while on Maui, Hawaii. (It is WONDERFUL here!!) I know I will still be writing this after I got see Pearl Harbor in a couple days. This will influence my writings, as a great deal of things that happen in my life do. If you see many references to the attack at Pearl or WW2, this is the reason for it. Ahh! Think about it! Chase is an American raised woman (for the most part) and Heero is Japanese. ^_^ Chase was raised in a time when WW2 veterans were still alive, Heero was raised MANY years after it. This could get interesting.  
  
Enjoy the story, kids!  
  
A/N2: Also, a note to those who are reading Anna's and my story Time and Time Again (it's reached 273 pages when Anna is able to post the next part. This is as of6/27/02), please be warned this is a different time line and there are spoilers for Ryuujin's past in here. I have warned you! I'm no longer responsible for your curiosity!!  
  
The Three Beats of War, Peace, and Revolution  
"War is something we hoped to avoid. The needless bloodshed is a cruel fate to the young soldiers that fight in today's battles. We have seen it most of our young lives and now continue to fight.  
  
"After the war with Marimaea, we hoped it would be over. A battle here and there was to be expected, even welcomed at times. It kept our skills sharp and our souls from dying.  
  
"I hope the peace continues, but rumors have been making their way up from Earth and to our secluded space station we've been on the past two weeks. I will welcome the solid ground under my feet.  
  
"For now that's all the news I have. Ja ne.  
  
Chase Yuy. Date: September 7, 201AC"  
  
Chapter One: A new enemy, an old friend  
  
Chase Yuy set her recorder diary down and sighed. Rumors were all they were. The Proventors were unaware of much else. That was the problem. Their enemies were well hidden and had evaded them thus far.  
  
The door swished open and the young assassin woman watched her husband walk into the room. She smiled at him and watched as he sat down on the bed, sighing heavily. "You have an old friend coming in."  
  
"Eh?" the young woman responded.  
  
"Ryuujin. He's coming to the station."  
  
"Honto ka?"  
  
Heero shook his head in an affirmative. "Apparently he's got some information about the new group forming."  
  
Green eyes locked with blue. "How much does he know?" This could be the break they were looking for.  
  
"I don't know. When he comes in, Une-sama is going to call a meeting. She wanted someone to go meet him."  
  
Chase eyed her husband for a moment. A slight glint of jealousy shown in his dark eyes. A protectiveness that had been there since her relationship with Ryuujin six years prior. "There's no need for you to worry, koibito," she whispered as she stood and wrapped her arms around his neck.  
  
He returned the embrace. "I know. I don't question you, Chase-chan. You know that."  
  
"Hai, I do." She looked up and their eyes locked. "I wouldn't hurt you, just as you promised me four years ago that you wouldn't hurt me." She ran a long nail along his jaw line. "Ai shittaru, Heero."  
  
He smiled and kissed the tip of her nose. "Ai shittaru, Chase-chan," he responded quietly. "Let's go meet your old friend, shall we?"  
  
The petite woman nodded.  
The smaller ship docked on the station and Ryuujin stepped off, looking slightly shaky. Chase grinned up at him and winked. "Daijoubu desu ka, Ryu?"  
  
He glared, responding in English. "No. I prefer stable land beneath me."  
  
The smile faded from the smaller assassin's face and the soldier's mask fell on her naturally pale features. "I hear you have information on the rebels."  
  
The blue haired half dragon nodded. "Lady Une requested I tell all of you at once."  
  
"This way then," she said as she started down the corridor, Heero falling into stride with her and Ryuujin fallowed.  
  
The blue-eyed swordsman eyed the two lovers walking in front of him. He'd been to their wedding and watched them over the past four years, hating every moment of it. He'd been with her first, he'd complained once. Now there was nothing he could do except hope that she was happy. She seemed happy.  
  
The two pilots led the swordsman into a conference room and Heero picked up the phone and spoke in rapid Japanese into it. Ryuujin could not follow the quickly spoken words.  
  
"He's calling Une-sama in, who will call the rest of our group in. You've met Zechs and his wife Lucracia, ne?"  
  
"I believe so. Zechs was at your wedding."  
  
"Hai. They were married not long after the war with Marimaea. They've got a little boy now and another one the way, though they don't know if it's a girl or boy. She's not far enough along. You know Anna's baby Jack, right?" The half dragon nodded. "He's not much of a baby anymore. He's around thirteen or so months. He's just started walking some and poor Anna-chan can't keep him in place. He seems to like to tug on Duo-kun's braid, though."  
  
Ryuujin listened to the small woman's ramblings about the events that he needed supposedly needed to be caught up on. He really had missed quite a bit of his friends' lives.  
  
Chase slowed and stopped when Anna and Duo Maxwell walked in with their son hanging onto his father's braid while struggling in his mother's arms. The little one turned his large violet eyes toward the approaching pilot. "Aunty Chase!" he hollered and leaned toward her.  
  
Chase laughed as she took him from his mother's arms and twirled him around. He clung to her and begged, "Again, Aunt Chase! Again!"  
  
Anna laughed at her son's begging. "I still say you and Heero need a kid, Chase-chan," she told her friend.  
  
"We're fine how we are now," the emerald-eyed woman responded as she twirled her "nephew" again.  
  
When he was satisfied that he'd been twirled enough, he went quietly back to his mother and laid his head on her shoulder.  
  
By this time, the Peacecraft family had made their way in. Marq, held by Milliardo (in whom Chase called Zechs still) and Lucracia (in whom everyone called Noin) were followed in by Relena, who was discussing with Lady Une.  
  
The three-year-old toddler made his way over to where Jack was. "Could I play with Jack?" Marq asked Anna.  
  
"Jack's sleepy right now. Chase wore him out," the dark haired woman responded.  
  
Marq frowned slightly.  
  
Ryuujin looked at him. There was no question when it came to his father. The boy was a small replica of Zechs Marquise. His bright blue eyes were shadowed by the semi long blond hair. He looked up at the half dragon. "Are you Ryuujin?"  
  
This caught him slightly off guard. He attempted to translate the Japanese question into English, and then answered slowly, "Hai." He was not use to the language and preferred English.  
  
"He doesn't speak Japanese well," Chase told the boy. "Speak English around him."  
  
Ryuujin nodded his gratitude. "He seems young. Does he know both?"  
  
"Pretty much everyone on this ship is bi-lingual if not tri. A few of us know more than three languages. It comes in handy with people like you who only know one language. You can brief them in English."  
  
"I never hear you speak to Heero in English."  
  
Chase glanced back at her husband who was watching the blue-haired swordsman carefully. "He feels more comfortable speaking his native language and I'm comfortable speaking it to him. I know it as well as I know English."  
  
"Ah." There was a pause before he spoke again. "He seems wary of me."  
  
"He is. He doesn't particularly trust you around me. Heero is very protective over me, whether I need it or not. You do have a tendency to come after me when you go into your alternate personality."  
  
"And I had a relationship with you. That frightens him."  
  
Chase glared slightly. "Not much frightens my husband. Not even you, Ryuujin. He's simply wary of you as you said. That's all." She paused for a moment and turned toward Lady Une who motioned to her. "It's your turn in the spotlight, boyo. Tell us whatcha know."  
  
The group of eight Gundam pilots along with their families sat in their seats. Lady Une stepped up to the front. "Thank you all for coming on such short notice," she began. "As I'm sure you have all heard, rumors are running around about a new rebellion against our government. Our suspicions have been aroused even more with the information from Ryuujin." She stepped down and the blue-haired man stepped up.  
  
Ryuujin cleared his throat and began. "I suppose all of you have heard the rumors of the rebellion, as Lady Une said. They've come to Earth. They call themselves the New Revolution. I've done some research on them, best I could, before I came here today. They're a group of fairly young soldiers, youngest around fourteen or so and the eldest around twenty- seven. Most have some connection to OZ in some way or an other. Not all do, though.  
  
"They've got some sort of material that's not quite as strong as the gundanium, but close. This is what they make their mobile suits from. I saw one on the ground. I saw what it can do." Ryuujin closed his eyes for a moment, then continued. "They demolished a city, a rather small one in France, in less than an hour. I lost track of time while doing the best I could to help out. These guys are serious about what their after."  
  
"Do we know what their after?" Trowa asked.  
  
The half dragon sighed deeply. "That would be the problem. The last thing I know is that they have a space station, not unlike this one, not far from here. One that can move like this one. I think they're planning something."  
  
"Is that all?" Quatre asked from his seat. "Nothing more than that to go on?"  
  
Ryuujin glared slightly at him and watched the blond sink back into his seat. "That's all the information I have."  
  
"Domo arigatou," Lady Une said.  
  
Relena stood and cleared her throat. "As the vice foreign minister here, I'd like to offer my help in any way possible," she stated. "And as a friend of the pilots."  
  
"It is.appreciated," Chase managed. The tension between the two women had not faded over the six years they had known each other. It probably never would.  
  
"Momma?" Jack asked, tugging at Anna's shirt. "Are you and Daddy going bye bye?"  
  
Anna smiled sweetly at him. "If we do, it won't be for long. You'll get to stay with Noin-san and Marq. Won't that be fun?"  
  
The little boy nodded enthusiastically. "Fun!"  
  
Anna turned her ocean coloured eyes to her husband. He gave her a lopsided grin that said they could talk about it after Jack went down for his nap. Things were going to get chaotic soon.  
  
Ryuujin started walking toward Chase and Heero, but stopped when he heard his name called. Trowa Barton stood tall, taller than him even, in his usual turtleneck and jeans. His bangs were still long and his eyes still a deep green, much like Chase's. Hadn't Chase had a relationship of some sort with him at one point in time in this dimension?  
  
"Thank you for coming to us with this," Trowa said in perfect English.  
  
The swordsman nodded. "I am on your side, contrary to popular belief."  
  
Trowa cocked his head slightly. "Whose belief?"  
  
"I would assume Heero Yuy's."  
  
A thin smile crossed the younger man's lips. "Heero is protective of Chase- chan. He won't take his chances with anything hurting her."  
  
"Chase is a big girl. She can take care of herself."  
  
"That she can, but if you were in his shoes, would you allow anything to happen to your wife that it took you so long to find and to marry?"  
  
Ryuujin sighed. "Chase trusts me. He should."  
  
Trowa smiled again. "Heero Yuy trusts near to no one fully."  
  
"Ah."  
  
"I've found protecting her from the shadows the best rout to take. If Heero fails, I'm there to back Chase-chan up. She'll always have someone their to help her, even if she does not need it."  
  
"Do you still care for her?"  
  
Trowa's eyes narrowed slightly and his brows knitted. "Excuse me?"  
  
Ryuujin chuckled. "Your actions, your language about her and around her, and the way you treat her in general. You loved her at one point."  
  
Trowa smiled. "Hai," he whispered. "I suppose I've been caught by her spell. She tells me that she doesn't bring magic from other worlds, but I question that at times. She has three men that would give up everything for her."  
  
"So you do."  
  
"Still care for her? Yes, but I have moved on. She loves Heero more than she will ever love me. I understand that, though I will continue to love and protect her. I may or may not find someone to match up to that woman, but if I do, I know she will be happy for me."  
  
Ryuujin nodded. "It's not that easy for me," he responded. That said, he turned and walked out of the conference room.  
Chase swirled the wine around in her glass. Once a week she and Heero made it a priority to get together and have dinner with Anna and Duo. It had been slightly more difficult the past few weeks that they had been on the ship like space station.  
  
"Jack asked me today if we were going bye bye," Anna said quietly. "I hate to do this to him."  
  
Chase frowned slightly. "It's what you do. Noin can take care of him."  
  
Anna shook her head. "You say that because you have no children of your own, Chase-chan. It's difficult to leave him behind."  
  
"He'll be fine, Anna-chan," Duo said from his seat beside her. "He's a smart boy and understands this is our work and it's something we gotta do."  
  
"I think he understands he gets to go play," Anna laughed. "Ne, Heero, you've been quiet this evening. Something bothering you?"  
  
Chase turned her emerald green eyes toward her husband. His dark blue eyes locked with hers. "I have a bad feeling about this upcoming war," he said simply. "Something's not right about it."  
  
"War is a harsh thing," Chase responded as she took a sip from her wine glass. "I've always got a bad feeling about it."  
  
Heero nodded and also took a sip of his own wine.  
  
Duo grinned. "He's worried about Ryuujin being back." This comment received one curious look, one glare, and one swat at his head. "Anou. it's true."  
  
"That's not something we need to discuss here," Anna growled, tugging his braid to make her point.  
  
"Okay!" he cried out, pulling his long hair from his wife's grasp, whimpering slightly.  
  
She frowned once more and turned back to her meal. The two couples sat in silence the rest of the time. Chase fiddled with her fork and knife, eating near to nothing as she played around with the food. Heero finished quietly and then sat staring off into space, figuratively speaking. Anna continued to glare at Duo every once and a while as she ate and the braided pilot whimpered slightly when she tugged on his braid to remind him of her wrath.  
  
They split the bill, as always and the two men walked back to their rooms while the women decided to take a walk and talk.  
  
"I'm really sorry about Duo's comment. You know how he is. He speaks without thinking. I sure hope Jack-chan has more sense than his father," Anna said quietly.  
  
Chase smiled. "Don't worry about it. Duo-kun is Heero's best friend. He knows how he is as well as either of us do."  
  
Anna nodded. "Still. He had no right to bring that up. That's a privet matter."  
  
Chase shrugged. "We're all family," she answered with a smile.  
  
"If not biologically, then certainly in spirit."  
  
"We've been through enough together."  
  
"Hai. That we have."  
  
Heero slipped into the room later that night. He smiled when he saw Chase sitting on the bed, pajamas on, reading a book. He inched closer, knowing that she had heard him come in, but still trying not to disturb her further.  
  
"Where'd you end up?" She hadn't looked up from her book as she asked this.  
  
"I needed time to think."  
  
"Do you think I'd leave you?" Chase asked quietly. She looked up and her deep emerald eyes locked with his dark blue ones. They held him there. He stared into her eyes, so deep that he found himself lost in them for a moment. There was so much more to Chase Yuy than met the eye. "Do you think I'd leave you?" she repeated.  
  
He thought for a moment, closing his eyes. He heard her shift, stand, and heard her slippers pad on the floor as she walked over. The gentle scent of jasmine filled his nose as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Of course not," he whispered quietly into her hair.  
  
"Domo arigatou," she whispered and clung tighter. "I would never leave you. It took me too long to sort out my emotions and to find you at the end of the tunnel. I know that I've found the man God made for me and I don't plan on leaving him behind."  
  
He smiled slightly and pulled back from her, staring into her dark eyes. She stood on her toes and kissed him. The kiss deepened before they pulled away and she felt his strong arms wrapped around her. "I love you," she whispered quietly. "I never want to be away from you."  
  
He said nothing as she sat back down on the bed. He simply smiled and joined her.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Ryuujin watched the stars from out of the window. If a war was coming, the Gundam pilots would be in need of his help. That one thing was for certain.  
  
Today he had been harshly reminded why he had visited the pilots less and less over the past four years. Chase was no longer free. It was different when she was engaged. Some how it still seemed as if there were a hope that she would call it all off.  
  
He thought briefly on what Trowa had said and glared out the window. It was easy enough for the pilot who was able to be around her all the time, was able to love someone else someday, to tell him to protect her from the shadows. To watch her and let her love Heero Yuy. Somehow it seemed so easy to say, yet so difficult to do.  
  
"Ryuujin-san?"  
  
Ryuujin turned to see the blond Arabian man standing behind him. He glared. "You should know not to come around me alone," he growled.  
  
"I wanted to sort this all out. If there will be a war, I would assume we will be working together. There will be no way to work together if we don't figure out a mutual agreement between us."  
  
"You killed my mother, Quatre."  
  
"And I'm truly sorry for my actions, Ryuujin-san! I. should never have used that system."  
  
"Yet you continue to use it."  
  
"I'm use to it now. Please don't forget that you are not the only one I hurt while under the Zero System," Quatre pleaded, pain evident in his strained voice. "Trowa."  
  
Ryuujin glared slightly, but it wasn't as harsh as the one before had been. "Trowa survived," he bit out.  
  
"Not without consequences. He did have amnesia for quite a while. I regret what happened, Ryuujin-san. Please, I beg of you, forgive me. I can't bare the guilt."  
  
"You deserve the guilt."  
  
"I know I do, but have mercy, Ryuujin," Quatre begged.  
  
The half dragon snorted and turned, leaving the area. Leaving a saddened Quatre. Leaving to a corner where no one could touch him and the world was shut out. Things had gone wrong since he landed. He hated space.  
  
Profile: 01 Name: Unknown Codename: Heero Yuy Age: 21 Height: 5'8'' Weight: 150lbs Hair Color: Brown Eye Color: Dark blue Gundam: Wing 0 Past: picked up by Dr. J when 8 years old and trained as an assassin. Believed to have been raised previously by Odin Lowe.  
*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Ryuujin's arrival was not a welcomed one by Heero. He doesn't seem to trust Ryuujin, I suppose for obvious reasons, but I just wish he would see all the times Ryu has helped me, not only the times that are out of his control. I suppose Heero might be.hurt. possibly by what I must do to bring Ryu back to normal, though he would never admit it openly.  
  
"War is looking more and more possible. This New Revolution is dangerous. I'm slightly frightened, I must admit. I don't want something to happen to my family. That is what we are. Heero, Duo, Jack, Anna, Wufei, Quatre, Zechs, Noin, Marq, and Trowa and Ryuujin, no matter how odd that might sound. I consider them both family. I stay close, even though I believe Trowa has distanced himself in a way as to not be hurt further.  
  
"Ryuujin HAS distanced himself. I've see him. maybe. five to ten times a year for short snippets at a time. It's not how it used to be. He used to come for weeks at a time and only leave for a short time before he was back for a visit. His visits have become few and far between since Heero and I were married. That was more of the personal note. I-"  
  
Chase stopped as she heard her husband stir from their bed. She smiled up from her place across the room in her beanbag chair she had. "Ohayo gozaimasu," she greeted. "Ohayo," he responded, slightly groggy.  
  
"Did I wake you?"  
  
"Iie."  
  
"September 8, 201," she concluded.  
  
"Journal?" her husband asked.  
  
"Hai."  
  
Heero glanced at the clock. 5:12AM. He groaned. "Come back to bed, Chase- chan."  
  
She laughed slightly and stood, making her way over to the bed. She pulled back her covers and crawled in next to her husband. "You use to be the one up earlier than I was."  
  
"Only when we have a mission. Otherwise, I have been around you far too long and apparently we've switched our sleeping habits."  
  
"Maybe you've been around Duo too long."  
  
Heero smirked. "Tabun," he mumbled.  
  
Chase cuddled up next to him and sighed in contentment. He wrapped a strong arm around her and pulled her close. "Sometimes I wonder if this has all been a dream," he mumbled.  
  
She smiled. He always said things around her he would never say aloud amongst the other pilots. "If it is, I don't want to wake up." She looked over to her husband's peaceful face as he lay quietly, half asleep, on the pillows. She brushed a strand of dark hair away from his face, allowing her fingers to linger on his pale face. If this were a dream, she would die if she woke.  
  
Chase Yuy woke to feel someone shaking her. "Nani?" she mumbled quietly as her eyes slid open.  
  
"Get up," came Heero's sharp command.  
  
Emerald eyes opened suddenly as she felt the ship tremble slightly under her. The tremble turned into a shudder that tossed her into Heero's arms. He held her for a half of a second before setting her on her feet. "Get dressed. Une will need our help."  
  
"Hai," she mumbled as she reached for her tank top and jeans. She slipped them on quickly and stepped into her boots. "Any word from her yet?"  
  
"She's probably too busy."  
  
The younger assassin nodded as she fell into step with the Japanese man. They jogged down the corridors to the room where the Gundams were stored. Sure enough, the other pilots were there as well.  
  
"What the hell is happening?" Chase demanded as she made her way to them.  
  
"We've been attacked," Trowa said simply.  
  
The small woman frowned and sighed. "You have a talent for stating to obvious, boyo," she grumbled.  
  
"We have a suspicion that it is the New Revolution making their first move against us. According to Ryuujin, they are near."  
  
Chase nodded as she made her way over to the Galaxy Custom. "Let's rock and roll, people. Whoever attacked us won't sit around and wait for us to defend ourselves before attacking again." She swung into her cockpit and the controls lit up. She typed in a command and the letters Z-E-R-O appeared on her screen. "Tell me, my old friend, what we're up against," she whispered as she started the engines.  
  
Five minutes later the Gundams were in space and in hot pursuit of their enemies. They found them only because they wished to be found. The mobile suits were high quality with camouflage systems on them.  
  
"There they are," Zechs' voice filled the different cockpits.  
  
"I suggest we encircle them," Trowa offered. "It would be our best option."  
  
"I agree," Quatre answered as he watched his screens carefully.  
  
"Matte," Chase called out. The world faded around her as the Zero System fired up. The future faded in. Her edge was back and it felt good. She came out of it and her green eyes narrowed. "Make sure to have plenty of people around front."  
  
"They could escape around back or to the sides," Wufei responded.  
  
"Trust me on this, Fei-kun. They're here to go after the Pacific. They'll go in for an other attack." The young American woman heard Wufei about to say something else, but she stopped him. "Would you like to argue with the Zero System's predictions?" That shut him up. "They're going to come in for an other attack," she repeated.  
  
"Understood," Heero responded. "Trowa, your suggestion?"  
  
"Send Quatre to the front, me along to the left, Zechs and Wufei go to the side and the front, Anna and Duo stay in the front as well. You and Chase- chan should go to the back and hit them hard if they try to retreat."  
  
"You heard him," Heero called over the comm. "Get moving."  
  
The pilots divided off into their separate areas. Chase and Heero made it to the back in time to see one mobile suit edging its way toward them.  
  
"One coward trying to escape," Chase growled.  
  
"I don't think so. Strange as it sounds I think that's their leader out there all ready."  
  
"This early in the war? Idiot."  
  
"Maybe. Or perhaps he's just that good. We won't know for a while. For now, don't let him escape."  
  
"Sure thing," Chase responded as she moved into position. She held her saber out in one hand and the other arm with its machine gun embedded into it. She flicked on her comm.. "I suggest you surrender now, boyo, before you get yourself killed."  
  
An image appeared on her screen. A man in his mid thirties and still fairly handsome. His dark golden eyes and red highlighted blond hair matched his tan face. Foreign. "No one told me one of the Gundam pilots was a female," was all he said.  
  
Chase's emerald orbs narrowed. "Surrender."  
  
"I'm afraid that just won't do," the man said.  
  
"Are you with the New Revolution?"  
  
"Very much so, ma'am," he responded. "I am General Rolland Tyler." He smiled a cocky smile at her. "And you?"  
  
"Am going to kill you if you don't lower your weapon and have your troops pull away from our ship, General."  
  
He smiled slightly, a look the young woman did not like crossing through his eyes. "Not just yet, ma'am. I'm afraid you'll have to request again some other time."  
  
Chase growled low in her throat a curse from some language or another. "Listen you son of a-"  
  
"Please! No need for that sort of language! Now please forget this needless chatter and squabbling." He fired twice, the second hitting her along the left shoulder of her Gundam.  
  
Chase felt the Gundam fall back, sending her sliding around inside. She screamed slightly. "I'm in need of back up, Yuy!" she screamed.  
  
Heero turned his head toward the scene. His wife was struggling to regain her composure inside of the mobile suit. He growled a curse out and charged forward at the attacking mobile suit.  
  
His attack was cut short as a second suit came in from the side, ramming into him. He flew backward, bashing his head against the side as he did so. His dark eyes rolled back and his eyelids slid down as he began to pass out. He slipped into darkness with the sound of Chase's frightened screaming for a response echoed in the background. Beautiful darkness.  
  
(A/N: Yes! One chapter done..many to go.. Hmm.. I've now been to see Pearl Harbor. Honestly, if you ever go to Hawaii, you must find a way to go to the harbor. It's beautiful and humbling. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter. ^_~ I put Heero in a position, ne? BWHAHAHA! Don't worry; the second chapter will be out soon if not immediately.) Ja ne! TBC 


	2. Roland Tyler, Of the New Revolution

Chapter Two: Rolland Tyler, of the New Revolution  
  
"Pull out," Tyler's voice echoed over the other mobile suits under him.  
  
"Sir?" came one confused soldier's response.  
  
"You heard me. Pull out now. Leave them and don't harm them on the way out. They'll go back to lick their wounds."  
  
"Sir."  
  
Tyler smiled slightly as he pulled away. "It's been a pleasure, ma'am," he called out to Chase. "I do hope we haven't damaged your friend there too awful bad." He heard some colourful metaphors from the other end of the line before shutting it off.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Dark blue eyes fluttered open and attempted to focus on the room around him. The first thing that focused enough for him to see was the face of his wife, and the emerald eyes darkened with unvoiced worry.  
  
Chase Yuy had been sitting in the room for the past three hours that her husband had been out. Now she was leaning over him, a hand on the opposite side of his body of where she was sitting. "Daijoubu desu ka?" she asked quickly.  
  
The young man nodded his head, quickly regretting the quick motion. He reached for his young wife's hand, who took it, gently squeezing it. "You have a concussion," Chase explained. "One of those times that you were hit just right."  
  
"Or just wrong," he whispered.  
  
She smiled slightly. "Hai," she whispered as she leaned over and kissed his forehead. "How are you feeling now?"  
  
"My head hurts."  
  
"That's to be expected," a new voice said. The two pilots looked over to see Sally Po standing at the doorway, a smile placed on her lips. "You took quite a hit to the head, Heero Yuy. You're lucky that you got away as easily as you did."  
  
He smirked slightly, and then closed his eyes. "I'm going to sleep now," he whispered. "Wake me later, Chase, ne?"  
  
"Of course."  
  
Chase walked down the corridor, her boots making a quiet clinking sound as she made her way. She heard the sound of quieter shoes behind her. Turning, her green eyes met the ocean blue ones of Anna.  
  
"Since you're moving about, I'm to assume he's awake and doing well?" the taller woman asked.  
  
"One: never assume anything, my dear Anna," Chase said with a smirk. (A/N: Sherlock Holmes joke) "Two: yes, he is. Heero said he wanted to sleep, so I thought I'd come down and get some caffeine to wake me up."  
  
"Not coffee, I would guess."  
  
"Of course not. Tea."  
  
"That herbal stuff you drink won't give you the caffeine you need."  
  
"I was planning on getting the most caffeine I could get in tea and dumping two cups of sugar into it," the petite woman answered with a smile. "Any word on the repairs to the Galaxy?"  
  
"Howard's doing the best he can, but the Zero was worse of than your Galaxy. Whatever hit it, hit it hard. The Galaxy needs more buffing out than anything."  
  
"Good. How long will the Zero be grounded?"  
  
"You'll have to ask Howard," Anna responded. "He's in the hanger. He's been there since we came back."  
  
"Poor guy."  
  
"Yeah. I was gonna go get him some coffee."  
  
"You're spreading your disease," the smaller pilot joked.  
  
Anna laughed. "Of course! Come on. I need some help carrying the coffee anyway. You've now been recruited."  
  
"Oh joy," Chase muttered as she followed her friend into the kitchen.  
  
Lee Ares was the captain under General Tyler of the New Revolution. He was the most highly respected of the soldiers. At the age of nineteen, he had done more than he had ever suspected he would. At the cost of so much more than he ever wanted to pay.  
  
Now Ares stood outside of General Tyler's office, afraid to knock on the door. His sources had told him that 01 had gotten off much easier than the general had suspected or wished for, Ares didn't want to be the one to tell him this. He knocked.  
  
"Come in," the brisk command was heard.  
  
The dark haired man slipped in the door, hearing it swish and lock behind him. His fate possibly sealed in this room. He hoped he was as highly thought of by this man as everyone said he was. "General Tyler."  
  
"Hello, Ares." He seemed distracted as he watched something on his computer screen on the other side of his desk.  
  
"I have the information on the injuries inflicted on 01, sir."  
  
Tyler looked up. "I'm waiting."  
  
"I'm afraid he got off with no more than a concussion, sir. Not a bad one at that. He's suppose to be in perfect condition to reenter the battles in around three days."  
  
Tyler allowed a small smile to cross his face. "What do you know of these pilots, Ares?"  
  
"Sir?"  
  
"What do you know of this? Names? Data on them? Anything?"  
  
Ares thought for a moment. "I believe 01 is Japanese, sir. Heero Yuy, if I remember correctly. I don't know all that much on 02. Maxwell his American, possibly. The accent would strongly suggest that. 03 is Trowa Barton. He is their strategist, that's all I know. 04's father had a business. Winner, if that means anything to you, sir. 05 is Chinese. Chang Wufei, I believe. 06 and 07 are a mystery to most people, sir. 06's specialty is assassination. He's very good and has never been seen nor caught from what I know. 07 I'm completely unsure of; except for he is an exceptional in combat, sir. I wish our men had people like these pilots to learn from."  
  
"What Gundams do 06 and 07 have?" Tyler asked quietly.  
  
"06 has the Galaxy. I believe you fought him today. 07 has the Star."  
  
"06 is not a 'he,' my friend. 06 is a woman. I have a strong feeling that 07 might be as well."  
  
"Sir?"  
  
"She's caught my attention, Ares. Find 06. I want to know about her. Where does she come from? Her name? Everything about her. More importantly, I want to see those eyes again, Ares."  
  
"Sir? Are you suggesting I bring her here?"  
  
"I'm ordering, young man."  
  
Ares nodded. "Yes sir. I'll do the best I can, sir."  
  
"Make sure it is good enough, boy. Failure is not excepted here."  
  
Ares' dark eyes fell to the floor for the briefest of moments. "Yes sir. I know that, sir."  
  
"Get moving then, Ares. You're wasting both my time and yours. Move."  
  
"Sir," Ares answered as he bowed quickly and left just as quickly. This was going to be difficult.  
  
"The Zero'll be down for a while, Chase. Really sorry 'bout it," Howard said as he took a sip of his coffee.  
  
"That's just fine. Heero needs to be down for a couple days anyway," the young assassin said as she glanced up at the Gundam.  
  
"The Galaxy is just fine, though. She'll be ready whenever you are."  
  
"You two seem to know where to find the action, ne, Chase?" Anna asked as she sat down next to the two people.  
  
Emerald eyes narrowed slightly. "I believe I was up against the New Revolution's leader. His name was Rolland Tyler, I think he said. Annoyance."  
  
Anna laughed slightly. "Only you, Chase. Only you."  
  
Lee Ares scanned through the files the Proventors had on the Gundam pilots. It had taken him quite a while to hack and then find his way through them. Now he had what he was looking for: information on 06 and a picture of her.  
  
06 was Chase Yuy. She was a pilot of German heritage that hailed from America. There was no data on her family nor how long they had been there. He guessed, from the picture of her, that she had a variety of different cultural backgrounds mixed with the German one. She was five foot and three inches tall with a small, petite build. Short, light brown hair that fell down just past her ears and not quite to her shoulders framed and her face.  
  
Ares saw the emerald eyes that Tyler had spoken of. They were a deep colour that he had never seen before.  
  
The picture showed a small smirk playing on her pale features with an eyebrow cocked slightly. Her uniform was strait and the tie perfectly done. Her stats said she'd been a Proventor for four years and now held a commander's position. Previously a Gundam pilot.  
  
"Five foot three inches, ninety-six pounds, slender build," he read. "Pilot of the Gundam Galaxy Custom. Only known family: Heero Yuy, husband. Maiden name unknown. That's interesting." The young man clicked on the stats for Heero Yuy and the information came up.  
  
"Heero Yuy: Five foot eight inches, Japanese heritage, dark blue eyes, brown hair, Proventor for four years. These seem basically the same as hers. Pilot of the Gundam Wing Zero." He scrolled down a ways. "Married to Chase Yuy. General Tyler won't like this."  
  
Trowa Barton sat typing away at his computer, searching through files. He heard the door slide open but did not look up. He knew Quatre's footsteps. The Arabian man really should work on that.  
  
"What are you looking for?" the blond asked.  
  
"Anything on the New Revolution," Trowa responded.  
  
Quatre nodded, and then picked up a picture on the desk. It was of Chase when she was younger, probably about sixteen. She appeared to have just turned around to find herself face to face with Trowa. They both had looks of slight surprise on their faces as they stared at each other. "This was a long time ago, ne?"  
  
"When she came with me to learn. That summer after the war with Mariemaea."  
  
"You two used to be close. What happened?"  
  
"We got too close. Things went wrong. It happens."  
  
Quatre stared for a moment. "How close, Trowa?"  
  
The green eyed man smiled as he continued to scan the page. "I loved her. Catherine was convinced I'd marry her." He smiled again. "She was everything."  
  
"Why does Heero not treat you like he treats Ryuujin-san then?"  
  
Trowa turned to his friend, eyes thoughtful. "He never knew. I told Chase it was her decision to tell him if she thought it would matter." No one but Chase and he knew, but now Ryuujin had found out that at least he had feelings for her and he was openly telling Quatre. Oh well, Quatre was a trusted friend.  
  
"And what did she say?"  
  
"She said she didn't want Heero to be cold to me like he is to Ryuujin," the Silencer said with a sad smile. "It was her choice. He never found out, nothing has ever gone on since. For a short while we were very close."  
  
Quatre sighed quietly. "Tell me what happened. Please, Trowa-kun?"  
  
The green eyed man nodded slightly. "Like I said. It was the summer after the war with Mariemaea."  
  
*flashback *  
  
Chase set her bags down in the trailer and turned back to Catherine. "Thanks for giving me a place to stay. I really don't know how much good I'll be to you here."  
  
Catherine smiled sweetly. "Don't worry about it, kiddo. Just learn what you can from Trowa. He's a good teacher."  
  
The girls glanced back at the door and Trowa standing outside, watching them. It was the dead of summer and the sun was up and blazing. Chase did not particularly want to start today. The elder boy seemed ready to go.  
  
"Go on. He's waiting for you."  
  
Chase nodded reluctantly and walked out. Trowa eyed her for a moment. She looked the same as she had all during the wars. She had not grown an inch, and he would wager she was still not too far over around ninety pounds in weight. The only real differences were that she had replaced her dark blue jeans for shorts during the summer heat, shed her jacket to reveal the black tank top she wore often, and she now carried something she called a castor, hooked onto her belt at all times. If it was not there, it was hidden in the so-called "Bottomless Pit of Arsenal" that was always with the young assassin girl.  
  
"Konichi wa, Chase," Trowa greeted her with a slight bow of his head.  
  
"Hey, boyo," she answered. "So when do we get started?"  
  
"Now if you'd like."  
  
Chase wrinkled her nose slightly, but then smiled. "As long as it's in shade and not out in this evil heat, now would be great."  
  
Catherine watched them over a week's time. Their every move was carefully monitored by Trowa's elder sister. She smiled. The green eyed American was a quick learner.  
  
"You two want something to drink?" she called out to them.  
Chase stopped and looked back. "Sounds great, Cathy!" she called back with a smile. "Arigatou!" She turned back and found herself face to face with Trowa Barton. Well, as face to face as they could be with their height difference. (A/N: For those that are like me and actually care about the little bitty minute details: Chase is 5'3'' through the WHOLE confounded series, no matter what time line. Trowa, at this point, is probably about 5'10'' or so. He'd have been about that height during G- Girls as well.)  
  
Trowa looked oddly at her and looked as if he were going to say something, but a bright flash blinded them. The two young pilots turned to see what it was and Catherine smiled and held up a camera. "Sorry, guys!" she called. "I needed to capture the moment." She winked and left them alone under the large tent.  
  
Chase blushed a deep crimson and turned away quickly. "I'm going to go have a look around. I've been here nearly a week and still don't know my way around well," the young teen stammered out as she rushed out of the tent, leaving Trowa thoroughly confused by the whole situation.  
  
Chase wandered the grounds for a while before finding a place on a hillside to sit down. The stars were shining over her and she lay back and watched them for a moment, then closed her eyes with a long sigh.  
  
She reopened them when she felt someone standing over her. A young boy was leaning over her, watching her with large eyes. "Are you the girl Trowa brought here?"  
  
"Eh?" she asked as she sat up to get a better look at the little boy.  
  
"Trowa brought a girl here sometime last week. Everyone's talking about him and her. Are you that girl?"  
  
"I guess."  
  
The boy smiled. "I can see why he likes you," was all he said before he disappeared.  
  
Chase blinked twice in the direction of where he had been standing. She looked behind her to see Trowa leaning against a tree. "Who was that?" she asked.  
  
"That was Jack Avis. He's an orphan here that I kind of took under my protection when I met him. He's a good kid."  
  
Chase smiled. "I love kids. They're so innocent of the sins we've committed."  
  
Trowa took a seat next to her and looked off into the distance. "They'll have their own time to dirty their hands."  
  
"Do you think we could help create a world where that will be less necessary?"  
  
The green eyed man sighed. "I don't know."  
  
"If you could get one thing back, Trowa-kun, what would it be?"  
  
Trowa blinked at her for a moment. "That was random, Chase-chan."  
  
"I know."  
  
"My memories. I want to know who I am really. I want my identity back." He smiled humorlessly. "Not that I really had one to begin with, but it would be nice to have one now. What about you?"  
  
"Innocence."  
  
"You are innocent."  
  
"I'm naïve, not innocent. There's a difference." She paused a moment and watched some children running through an open place with a kite behind them in the evening sky. She smiled slightly and continued as if speaking more to herself than Trowa. "They have an innocence that is impossible to keep. We all lost ours at a young age. I long for what I can never have. Once one looses their innocence, one can never get it back."  
  
Trowa stared at her for a moment, silently. "I've always seen you as innocent," he whispered finally.  
  
"How can I be? My hands are as stained as yours are with blood of innocents as well as guilty! Sometimes I think there has to be something we can do to stop the needless bloodshed." A single tear fell down the girl's pale face. "I want something I shall never have."  
  
Trowa reached up and caught her tear, eyes locking with hers. He leaned forward and his lips brushed hers. She did not reject him as the kiss deepened. After the kiss broke, they lay back on the grass.  
  
"What about Heero?" Trowa whispered.  
  
"What about him?" the assassin responded as she leaned over him and kissed him again.  
  
*end flashback *  
  
Profile: 02  
  
Name: Unknown Codename: Duo Maxwell Age: 21 Height: 6' Weight: 158lbs Hair Color: Brown Eye Color: Violet Gundam: Deathsythe Hell Past: Unknown  
  
Quatre sat for a moment and let the story sink in. "So what broke it all off?"  
  
"She loved Heero. Remember the time he disappeared for a while. Not during the Eve Wars, but after Marimaea."  
  
"Hai. Of course! Chase nearly went crazy. That's also when she mastered the Zero System."  
  
"Yes. When he came back, she said she should be with him. She told me that she thought she'd end up hurting me if she didn't leave then." Trowa smiled tightly. "I still love her, and I want her to be happy. If she's not happy with me, that's just how it'll be."  
  
Quatre nodded slowly. "I see. That's very kind of you, Trowa-kun."  
  
"I wish I could see it that way," the elder man said with a smile. "I've found something on this Rolland Tyler."  
  
"Eh? What is it?"  
  
Trowa pulled up what he had been looking up earlier. "Rolland Tyler was born with that name. His father died when Tyler was twenty-eight and under Treize Kushranada's command. He was very supportive of his leader and then served Dekim Barton under Marimaea Kushranada. Now he's formed some group to avenge them both, supposedly. Treize and Dekim."  
  
"Interesting."  
  
"Apparently he was very high up in the Specials. I believe I met him once or twice while under cover. Has an attitude much like Wufei's toward women."  
  
"I hate to say it, but would that make Chase and Anna the best ones to send in against him?"  
  
"Perhaps. Perhaps not. We don't know enough about our enemy yet to be making rash decisions."  
  
"Of course not."  
  
"For now we need to get this information to Lady Une and Heero."  
  
"Hai!" the Arabian man responded as they left to find the two.  
  
A/N: Ah! And yet another chapter done! Yay! Did ya'll catch the thing about Jack Avis? (You only understand that if you've read Time and Time Again. If you haven't, shame on you! Go read it now!!) I love Jacky-chan! I just HAD to add him in here, if only for a moment! *glomps Jack* The flash back I changed only slightly from its original form. Very slightly. I don't remember the original by heart, and I'm not in a place where I can check on it. _ *sobs* Gomen nesai! Oh well, I guess that's it for now. I'm sure I'll have much longer Author's Notes in the future just because I like to talk! ^_^ That and this is one of the few stories I've done by myself in a while. @_@ Ja ne! TBC 


	3. We Must learn from our past to protect o...

Chapter Three: We Must Learn from the Past to Protect our Future  
  
"She's married, eh? How troublesome," Tyler muttered as he leaned back in his chair.  
  
Lee Ares watched him carefully as he focused on a picture over the blazing fireplace. He never liked that fireplace, nor the disturbing picture that hung above it. It was an original photograph, sometime in the 1940s AD. Ares had never taken much time to try and figure out where it was placed, because the site of a ship being blown to pieces and people dying all around was enough to make his stomach turn. He didn't much care about where or when it was. As long as it had nothing to do with his missions.  
  
"Did you know America was forced into the second World War, Ares?"  
  
"I don't believe I studied that war in my history classes, sir."  
  
"Why not, Ares?"  
  
"My professors all said that it was too far in the past to matter."  
  
"Those who ignore the past are doomed to repeat its mistakes," Tyler answered the young man. "Take a close look at that picture, my friend. What does it say?"  
  
"USS Arizona sunk on December 7, 1941," Ares read. "So?"  
  
"I was raised in America, or what's left of it. It seems that there is the Earth and Space now, no countries. I know the history of America. In their history, it talks about the second World War. It speaks of the attack of a bay called Pearl Harbor. I suggest you do some research on that." Tyler's eyes narrowed as a cruel smile crossed his tan features. "We will attack the Earth's alliance where it will hurt them the worst. We'll attack the Atlantic."  
  
"Sir, that's a very large ship. We are not militarily prepared to take down such a vessel."  
  
"It's the surprise that will catch them off their guard, Captain. We will take them down. Make sure we're ready by tomorrow."  
  
"Sir!"  
  
"In the early '40s of the 20th century AD, the Japanese took quite a while preparing for their attack. This is 201 AC. I suggest you be ready when I tell you to, Captain."  
  
Ares swallowed hard. "Yes sir." He turned to leave, then stopped. "Sir?"  
  
"What is it, Ares?"  
  
The young man hesitated before asking, "Sir, doesn't the Atlantic have civilians on it now?"  
  
A cruel chuckle came from Tyler. "Yes. Yes it does, Captain. Be ready."  
  
(A/N: Just a quick little comment: Tyler is NOT a good man. In fact, he's very evil. He does not have that picture of the Arizona up there as something good. Not at all. He likes to look at the destruction from the ship on daily basis. REALLY SCREWED UP. Just a little side note ^_^) (A/N2: I was rereading this while editing and the thought came to my mind that we received a picture much like I described in this story, but after I had written down the description. It frightened me a little when I saw the poster lol. Tyler's come to get me!)  
  
Chase plopped down in the open chair next to the blue-haired swordsman. He glanced over towards her for a moment, then returned his eyes to stare out the window. She glared. "You could at least talk to me."  
  
"I don't want Heero to think I'm making a move on you again," he replied shortly.  
  
The petite woman glared. "You didn't have to come. You could have sent a message with the information."  
  
"And it could have been intercepted by the enemy," he replied coldly.  
  
"Or maybe you just wanted to see us!" Chase yelled, not really meaning to. "I know I wanted to see you."  
  
This caught the half dragon's attention. "Excuse me?"  
  
The green eyed woman sighed. "It's not as if I hate you, Ryuujin. Please don't do this." Her voice was pleading as she looked up at him.  
  
"I'm sorry," Ryuujin whispered.  
  
Chase smiled. "Do me a favor, ne?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Fight with us. We're going to need all the help we can get in this war. Your help would be appreciated."  
  
Ryuujin nodded. "Okay, Chase-chan."  
  
"Well I thought I'd at least have to twist your arm for it," the younger assassin complained.  
  
The half dragon laughed at this.  
  
Profile: 03  
  
Name: Unknown Code Name: Trowa Barton Age: 21 Height: 6'3'' Weight: 180lbs Hair Color: Brown Eye Color: Green Gundam: Heavyarms Custom Past: Grew up as a soldier. Nothing else known.  
  
Heero sat up in bed, listening to Trowa and Quatre tell of what they had found. His blue eyes watched Lady Une's every movement as she devoted her attention to the two young men before her.  
  
"If I remember the man correctly," Trowa continued, "he had a fascination with history. He took the idea of learning from history so that it didn't repeat itself to the fullest."  
  
"So you think that he will use something out of the past to cause us trouble?" Heero mused aloud. His dark eyes met Trowa's. "Do you realize how little that narrowed it down?"  
  
Trowa frowned. "Hai. I'd thought of that, but if it helps any, he's from North America."  
  
"Anywhere you know of in particular?"  
  
"Somewhere in the United States," Trowa responded. "I don't know exactly where."  
  
Heero nodded.  
  
"Even with that," Lady Une said, "the United States has been around since the 18th century AD. That's quite a bit of history he could be trying to play with."  
  
"It's been quite a while since America was a strong power, ne?" Quatre asked.  
  
Heero chuckled lightly and received curious glances. "Nothing. Chase found that out some years back and muttered something about the End Times." He smirked slightly, leaning his head back. "Sometimes I'm led to think that her beliefs may be true, but I should debate that another time."  
  
Trowa nodded. "Would Chase or Anna be able to help us with the history of America?"  
  
"If anyone could from that far back," Quatre said.  
  
"I'll find them and talk to them," Trowa said as he started for the door.  
  
Trowa found the green eyed assassin and the blue eyed half dragon sitting and talking in the lookout bay. He hated to interrupt, but she would understand. He cleared his throat.  
  
Chase turned and her face turned serious. "Konban wa, Trowa-kun."  
  
"Lady Une would like a word with you, Chase-chan."  
  
The young assassin blinked. "Whatever it was, I didn't blow it up." The innocence in her statement and wide-eyed expression made Ryuujin chuckle. She glared slightly at him.  
  
Trowa allowed a shadow of a smirk to cross his face. He motioned and Chase stood. "We'll be back shortly," the taller man informed the half dragon.  
  
Ryuujin simply nodded.  
  
The two pilots entered Lady Une's office to find Quatre and Heero standing there. Chase opened her mouth to scold the Japanese man for being out of bed, but the look on his face shut her up quickly. They had a lead.  
  
"We've been discussing Rolland Tyler, Chase-chan, and believe that you might be able to predict his next move," Trowa explained.  
  
"Zero?"  
  
"Zero might come into play later in this, but for now we're looking into the past. Apparently Tyler enjoys taking things from the past and replaying them in the present. He's from America."  
  
"America hasn't fought a war in a good number of years, though."  
  
"We think he's looking back into closer to your time, Chase-chan. That's why we need you to think about what he would do. I was trying to remember as much as I could about him, and I believe he had a fascination with the second World War."  
  
Chase's eyes narrowed. "World War 2?" She leaned back against the wall, thinking.  
  
Heero, Trowa, Quatre, and Lady Une exchanged glances, but said nothing that would interrupt the young assassin's train of thought.  
  
"We're at the beginning of the war. Not even really into yet, and no one wants to be in it," Chase thought out loud. She closed her emerald orbs for a moment, but then they flashed open quickly. "Where could they hit us that would hurt us the worse in a surprise attack?"  
  
"I'd have to check on the ships in the area, but probably the Atlantic," Lady Une said.  
  
Chase's eyes nearly bulged. Why hadn't she thought of the Atlantic? It was their largest ship with both crew and their families on it. It had new weapons that had not yet been tested, but were expected to help the Earth's military quite a bit against any attackers. Protection against something like this.  
  
"We have to get a hold of them immediately and send people there now," the young pilot said quickly. "I believe that Tyler will hit the Atlantic."  
  
Lady Une nodded. "If you three will gather the rest of the pilots up, I'll contact the ship. Be ready at the docking bay when I get there."  
  
"Hai," they said together and were off down the hall.  
  
It took no more than ten minutes to find the remaining four pilots and get all of them into the docking bay. Noin said that she would watch Jack for Anna, and the younger woman thanked her repeatedly.  
  
Ryuujin stepped into the chaos a bit confused. He finally caught a hold of Zechs, who happened to be the one nearest to him. "What's going on?" he demanded.  
  
"Chase thinks that the New Revolution will attack the Atlantic," the blond man said. "We're going there."  
  
Reflective blue eyes watches as all eight pilots scurried into their Gundams and were awaiting Lady Une's orders.  
  
Chase stopped before climbing in and grabbed Heero's wrist. "Daijoubu?" she demanded.  
  
"Hai," her husband answered. "Daijoubu, Chase-chan. Just keep your mind focused on what's before us."  
  
She nodded, and climbed into her Gundam. The brunet punched in Z-E-R- O into her system. She was pulled into the system and her eyes blanked.  
  
Blood. Too much blood. The dark liquid spilling from bodies strewn across the bridge and from the innocent families of the crew. Blood.  
  
Chase was snapped out of the system as Lady Une's voice was heard over the comm. "Communications with the Atlantic have been cut off."  
  
"Let's get moving then," Heero's voice flooded into the comm.  
  
The Gundams were in space as quickly as possible. They hoped they would make it in time.  
  
Lady Une sighed. "In five minutes we take off behind them for back up!" she yelled at soldiers who had gathered around. "Get ready!" She turned her brown eyes toward the tall half dragon. "Would you care to join us, Ryuujin?"  
  
"Yeah," the blue haired man said and followed after her.  
  
(A/N: Okay, people, this what I was talking about in one of my previous notes. This is about to get graphic and possible foul language from some of the pilots. Just a warning.)  
  
The pilots weren't quite sure the amount of time it took them to reach their destination, but knew they were too late as soon as they reached it. No life was shown from the outside and looking into the thick windows. Occasionally one of the pilots would see a bit of fire reach out for the walls, but it was impossible to tell how serious it was. Debris floated around the ship. It was a slight sign that they had been able to fight back at least some.  
  
Chase gripped her controls tightly. Her knuckles turned white from the pressure applied. "Damn it," she growled. "Let's get in there and find survivors."  
  
"Une-sama will be here shortly," Heero said quietly. "She will have a ship large enough to take the bodies somewhere where they can be given a proper burial."  
  
They landed the Gundams on the docking deck, which had somehow survived the attack. They climbed out with care.  
  
Chase landed hard as she took the short way to the ground. Heero touched her shoulder lightly. "Know that not many will have survived."  
  
To most, this would have sounded like a cruel thing for someone to say, but Chase knew the reasons for his bluntness. "I know."  
  
The eight pilots made their way into the ship. They found no signs of bodies as they continued. Chase's mind replayed the images that the Zero System had shown her.  
  
"You'd think they hadn't been hit at all except for the debris," Quatre mumbled as he surveyed the area.  
  
Wufei, who had been leading, took a step back, an unusual look on his face.  
  
"Fei-chan?" Anna whispered, touching his shoulder. "Nani." She stopped when she saw what he had: a room that had not been evacuated in time when the damage had been done. Where would they have evacuated to?  
  
Anna covered her mouth in shock as she turned to find Duo there. He pulled her close as he saw what she had. A young baby dead in his mother's arms. Silent tears streamed down the young pilot's face.  
  
"What if they attack the Pacific while we're here, Duo-chan?" she whispered.  
  
"Jack's just fine," Duo answered comfortingly. "He'll be waiting when we get back. He'll be just fine."  
  
Chase felt a shiver run down her spine at the site of the people. She heard Trowa make a commit about the air thinning out, but she did not respond. They had oxygen tanks if they needed them. Her dark eyes focused on the area ahead. She had to keep going. Someone had to have survived this awful attack. There were survivors at Pearl Harbor, weren't there? She had to find the ones here.  
  
She felt Heero place a hand on her shoulder and pull the oxygen mask around her nose. "I don't care how fixated you are on finding them, but you have to remember to stay alive in here as well," he said quietly.  
  
She nodded and turned to continue. He took her wrist and pulled her back. "Let someone else go first in there."  
  
She looked up at him with curious eyes. He knew something. She wasn't sure what yet, but he knew something. She heard Quatre's gasp of horror muffled by the oxygen mask over his face. The Arabian man paled considerably as he backed away from the room. Trowa steadied him.  
  
Chase pulled free from her husband's grasp. She knew what she was going to see there. She knew she had to look at the awful site at least once, so why not get it over with. Her stomach churned when her green eyes saw what they did. Bodies were strewn everywhere, blood covering the bridge. The captain was in the middle of the floor, dead. A pool of crimson was around him and his eyes were blank. Lifeless.  
  
The young American gave a half cry and Heero held her shoulders. She had seen blood many times before. It was a smell that could make her stomach turn if it were plenty enough. The site hardly ever bothered her. She had seen her own far too many times to remember.  
  
Her eyes caught glimpse of a child's hand clutching a teddy bear, the toy tightly gripped even in death. She nearly cried when she saw it. Thoughts of Heero and the little girl with the puppy. He'd never explained the thoughts going through his head that day, and she couldn't even remember him speaking of the events. All she knew was that he had nearly killed himself and there had been a teddy bear there in the snowy picture.  
  
Chase felt her husband's arms wrap around her and she sighed heavily. He tightened his grip when they all heard footsteps.  
  
"They're still here," Wufei said in a hushed whisper. "Too many of them."  
  
Chase felt Heero push her firmly into a hiding place and then join her. Her view was limited to around his dark brown hair. He scooted back, muttering for her to do the same. He took a deep breath and then switched his oxygen off. "There's enough to keep us until they leave, hopefully."  
  
Chase nodded. The oxygen providers were too noisy for this.  
  
"Everyone's dead," a voice said from the outside. "General Tyler will be pleased."  
  
Heero's gloved hand held Chase's wrist firmly, silently telling her that this was not the time for revenging the dead.  
  
"It's really a shame that this is what he thinks will win his war," a new voice said. Chase's green eyes latched onto the form of a young man. She made out the dark violet hair and his small stature. His voice was slightly feminine.  
  
"Sir?"  
  
"If Tyler thinks he'll win this by killing innocents, he's damn wrong. This will only rouse the Gundam pilots more." The man sighed. "Though I just follow orders, ne? Let's get moving. No one's left here."  
  
"Yes sir."  
  
The pilots held their breaths as the men exited, and silently released it when they were gone. Chase let out a choked sob as she buried her face in her husband's space suit. She felt his strong arms go around her back and pull her closer. "No one lived," she whispered.  
  
"I know. We'll revenge them, Chase-chan. Don't think for a moment we won't."  
  
Chase looked up with tears in her eyes and nodded.  
  
Lady Une's group arrived later than expected. They had been held back by multiple variables.  
  
Ryuujin let out a low whistle as he surveyed the site. "These people were serious, ne, Chase-chan?"  
  
The young pilot nodded silently as she knelt by one of the officers. "I hate the people that did this," she whispered darkly.  
  
"Then heaven help them. They're dead men."  
  
Chase nodded and stood, eyes vacant of all emotion. Ryuujin watched her walk past both him and Heero. "What's the matter with her?" the half dragon asked.  
  
"Innocence was slaughtered today," Heero explained. "Chase can handle a lot, but it hits home for her when the victims were innocent."  
  
Ryuujin nodded his understanding. He looked over and saw the child, drenched in blood and clutching her teddy bear. Suddenly he understood exactly what Heero had meant.  
  
All of the pilots felt the same rage that day, but voiced it differently. Chase pulled away from the world, falling into herself and staying silent for the rest of the evening and during the clean up that lasted, for them, into the next day. Heero stayed by his wife, being her strength. Anna clung to Jack as soon as she returned back to the ship, and Duo to them both, silently overjoyed that it wasn't h is family. Somehow he did not feel guilty for feeling that way. This was all he cared about. Quatre sat staring towards the stars with a darkness that set around him. Trowa took to researching all he could of the New Revolution and did nothing else. Wufei attempted to not let the events bother him as he worked in the gym. Zechs, like the Maxwells, clung to his family. Ryuujin thought the situation over in his mind, wondering why it was effecting him so. It wasn't as if he'd never seen blood before.  
  
The pilots took the day to mourn people they never knew, and never would know. Somehow, it had effected them more than they would have ever expected.  
  
A/N: Okay, it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. I think if I hadn't been so lazy and waited until quite a while after I saw the Arizona I might have still had those emotions running strong and have done more with this. Don't get me wrong, I put what I probably would have done if I were really Chase-chan. (*sobs* Alas, I'm not, but I really wish I were!!) I believe I wrote the original 3 Beats (or at least a good deal of it) while listening to the song Kaze no Uta from Fushigi Yuugi. I am, once again, listening to the song, so those emotions run through this as well. *wails* NURIKO-SAMA!!! WAIII!!!!!! (if you don't get it, you are very sad.. ^_^ That or just not a FY fan! Beautiful art.) Anyway, I did put quite a bit of my heart into that part, but sadly enough it didn't come out quite as forcefully as I had planned. Looking back on it, though, I think I might have done better. Hopefully I didn't gross any of the readers out with my descriptions (I kept them minimal!) and the cursing wasn't too bad. Chase was too dumbfounded to say anything. Lol. Anyway, this was suppose to be a very dramatic chapter. I hope it was. I hope you are crying now (if you're a girl, if you're a guy and are crying.. Wow. I've done a really nice job on this or you're strange. Let's take the former, ne? ^_~) simply because that was the purpose of this chapter. ONWARD! TBC 


	4. For better or worse, remember?

Chapter Four: For Better or Worse, Remember?  
  
Chase woke when she felt her husband shifting in the bed. Her dark green eyes opened slightly to see him sleeping peacefully at her side. She glanced at the clock. 6:20AM. This was far too early.  
  
She frowned over at her soundly sleeping husband. He would not wake fully until he wished to. She sighed and slipped out of bed, quickly slipping on her jeans and tank top. She slid her feet into the slippers that were by the door and quietly walked out.  
  
The young assassin made her way down the hall, not quite sure of her destination. She found herself in the observatory. It was a large room with a clear ceiling for viewing space as it passed. A lone figure stood in the middle. "Ohayo, Trowa-kun. What are you doing here this early?"  
  
The young man turned to her and allowed a small smile to cross his face. "I could ask you the same, Chase-chan."  
  
"I'm glad to see you took a break. You were working yourself to death yesterday."  
  
"I didn't want to think about what we saw."  
  
Chase nodded. She had crossed the distance between them and was now standing next to the young pilot. She looked up and a pair of green eyes met another. She did not know quite what to say.  
  
He turned away quickly. It hurt, sometimes, to see her so close, yet so far away. He understood Ryuujin's absence from the small group. He envied him sometimes. He wanted to run away from her and get as far from the memories as possible. At times he thought it would drive him insane. At times. This was one of those times.  
  
"I'm sorry I hurt you," Chase said in a rush.  
  
Trowa blinked and turned back to face the small woman. Her eyes were fixated on her own boots and a deep blush ran across her nose and cheeks. He smiled slightly and placed a hand under her chin, pulling up slightly so that she was looking him in the face. "You have no need to apologize to me, Chase-chan."  
  
"Yes I do!" she argued. "Sometimes I see you and Ryuujin, and. I feel so guilty. You two do mean the world to me still, but I had to make a choice. Somehow I wish I could set it all strait, like always, but this is something I don't know how to fix. I've never been able to figure out my own heart, much less someone else's. Gomen nasai," she said again as she bowed, showing her apology even deeper than her words could say.  
  
Trowa could not help but smile. "You did what you thought was best. I can handle myself, Chase-chan. Heero needs you and you need him. Somehow you two balance each other out. You do that for Ryuujin as well - in some odd way - but Heero was whom you chose. I understand that, and I believe Ryuujin will in time. They say time heals, ne?"  
  
Tears glistened in the young woman's eyes. "I know, but I feel wrong for causing the wounds that need to be healed."  
  
"Don't tell me this is what got you up, Chase-chan."  
  
"Iie, I've been waking early lately. This is just the first time I've been able to talk with you one on one." She sighed. "I worry, sometimes, what would happen if Heero found out about us."  
  
Trowa's eyes widened a bit, focusing on something behind the young woman. "Eh?" Chase questioned as she turned. Her dark emerald eyes were caught by the dark blue ones of her husband. Heero did not say a word as he turned and left. Chase started after him and then stopped.  
  
"Nani?" Trowa asked. "Shouldn't you-"  
  
"If he does not wish to be found, he will not be. You know Heero. He'll come to me when he's ready." There was a certain tone in her voice that Trowa could not place. He knew as well as she did that Heero would feel betrayed before anything. All the pilots knew that the young Japanese man was very possessive over his wife, and they all knew the bit of friction that Ryuujin's return had brought. This would light the fire that had been flickering and threatening.  
  
"If you think that's best," Trowa said simply.  
  
"I do. He has to trust me," the smaller pilot whispered. He had to..  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"You did well, Captain," Tyler said as he raised his wine glass toward Ares and offered him one as well.  
  
The young captain shook his head. "I don't drink in celebration of death, sir."  
  
Tyler cocked an eyebrow. "In celebration of death? What a morbid way to look at it, my boy! This is a celebration of victory!"  
  
"If you'll excuse my ignorance, sir, but victory over what?"  
  
"Over the Gundam pilots!" Tyler exclaimed. "They are a legend in the making and we have proven that they can be defeated today!"  
  
Ares looked at him blankly. "How did we do that, sir?"  
  
"Did you see them there? They missed the attack completely. They were unable to save their precious innocence and it was slaughtered before their eyes." Tyler smiled broadly and brought the glass to his lips. "We have won a battle against the Gundam pilots and lived to tell about it, my friend! This is to be celebrated." He once again offered the wine to the boy.  
  
Ares sighed and took it. "And what do we cheer to, sir? Victory by a massacre?"  
  
"You sound so upset over it. They were soldiers and the families of soldiers."  
  
"The families were civilians, sir!"  
  
"They were in our way to victory."  
  
"Sir, did you choose that ship for the ammunition or for those that were on it?" Ares asked darkly.  
  
Tyler chuckled. "You see through my façade. I knew you were a smart boy when I picked you up. You're family was holding you back."  
  
"And now they're not, because of your. victory over them, sir," Ares said coldly, a humourless smile crossing his pale lips. He raised his glass. "To you victory, sir," the youth said. He swallowed the wine, bitter flavor filling his senses and nearly making him gag. He hated wine. He set the glass down firmly on the desk and turned to leave.  
  
"You have not been dismissed, Captain," Tyler said dangerously.  
  
"Forgive me, sir. I thought we were done here. I gave my report."  
  
"You did that, and I thank you, and is turning in a huff anyway to repay me for my thanks?"  
  
Ares saw a dangerous glint in the man's eyes. He wasn't right in the head. The teen shifted uncomfortably. "Forgive me, sir," he replied in a humble voice.  
  
Tyler nodded. "I have another job for you."  
  
"Yes sir?"  
  
"I want you to go to the Pacific." Ares' stomach knotted. Not again. "And I want you to take Chase Yuy from it. I want her here tonight. It should not be too difficult for a man of your ranking and talent."  
  
"Sir."  
  
Tyler smiled a sadistic smile that sent shivers up the boy's spine. "Get on with it, Captain."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
It was late that night before Heero Yuy stepped into the room he shared with his wife. He found her reading, but her dark green eyes met his blue ones when she heard his entrance. "I thought you wouldn't come after a while," she said quietly.  
  
"Maybe I should have staid out."  
  
"Baka."  
  
"Why am I a baka now, Chase?"  
  
The bitterness in his voice put Chase's nerves on edge, ready to snap back. "Because you jump to conclusions without hearing me out," she growled.  
  
"I heard enough this morning. There's nothing more to discuss."  
  
"Damn it, Yuy," the brunet growled. "Put your stubbornness aside for two moments and listen like a rational human being."  
  
"I've heard enough," he hissed.  
  
"Get out," Chase whispered. A questioning look past through the Japanese man's dark orbs. "You heard me. Get out! If you aren't willing to listen then go away."  
  
"This is why I asked you if you would leave me," Heero muttered as he turned and left the room.  
  
Chase stood, anger building. How dare he? How dare he make an assumption without thinking it through when it had such amazing side effects? She picked up the nearest solid object, a gun sitting on the bedside table, and hurled it across the room. Glass shattered when it collided with the mirror. The young woman slumped to the ground, tears threatening. "Stubborn man," she muttered.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
The sound of the door sliding open woke Chase with a start. "I thought I told you to get out," she mumbled, attempting to focus her tired eyes. When they did focus, it was not the form of her husband that she saw. She shrank back against her pillows. "Dare.?"  
  
"Come with me quietly, Ms. Yuy, and I can guarantee your safety."  
  
"The hell I will!" Chase growled as she jumped out of bed when the man approached. She recognized his soft, feminine voice from the day the Atlantic had been attacked.  
  
"I'm afraid you don't have a choice." The man jumped for her, but she flipped over the bed and rushed toward the door. She felt him grab her wrist and throw her back. She was not awake enough to fight this battle. She groped around in the darkness for something, anything she could use as a weapon. Her hand brushed against a shard of glass from the broken mirror. She took it in her hand and lashed out with it, eyes still mostly blind in the dark room.  
  
The man fell back slightly, holding his face with one hand. His eyes turned toward her and she saw the violet flecks in them seemingly glow in the darkness. "I'm afraid I have no choice but to take you with me. I would do differently if I had my way, Miss."  
  
He moved faster than she thought he could. She felt the cloth go over her nose and mouth and she was forced to breathe the gas that sent her into darkness. Sweet, peaceful darkness.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Lee Ares fingered the cut along his left cheek as he walked down the hall way toward General Tyler's office. It had stopped bleeding after a while, but he knew it might leave a trace of a scar. That was not something he looked forward to.  
  
He rapped softly on the door of his superior's office. The man was up in the earliest hours of the morning doing his work. He would be up and in there now.  
  
"Enter."  
  
Ares stepped in, hearing the door swish behind him. The fire was blazing and it made the room warmer than the young captain preferred. He pulled slightly at the high collar of his uniform. The sooner he got out of this man's presence, the better.  
  
"You have something for me?" Tyler asked as he sipped at his ever- present wine glass.  
  
"Yes sir. Ms. Yuy is in a secured room, per your order, sir."  
  
"Very good, Ares."  
  
He stood in an uncomfortable silence for a moment, waiting for a dismissal, anything, from the elder man. He focused his violet-flecked eyes on the blond man. "Is that all, sir?" he pressed.  
  
"No," Tyler said with a sigh. "I want you to go to Ms. Yuy and bring her to me. Unharmed."  
  
Ares nodded. "Yes sir." That said, he turned and left. What a mess he had gotten himself into..  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Dark, emerald eyes slid open slowly. They focused on the on the ceiling above her first, then slowly she sat up and focused on the man sitting in a chair across the room. This was her first good look at Lee Ares. He was small, as she had previously noticed. His eyes were slanted slightly, showing an Asian bloodline, though his skin was fair, showing European decent. His hair was a dark colour, though she saw it was violet instead of black. His eyes were brown, mostly, with violet flecks in them to match his hair. He wore the read uniform, obviously a highly ranked uniform with all of the decorations on it. It was high cut in a Chinese fashion. Overall, the young man looked no older than twenty, but his eyes looked far older. He stood.  
  
"I'm glad to see you awake," he said quietly. "General Tyler will be even more pleased."  
  
Chase's green eyes narrowed and she said nothing.  
  
"My name is Captain Lee Ares. I'm in control of this ship you are on. I hope you enjoy your stay. General Tyler says that you are to be a welcomed guest."  
  
"Then why was I forced to come?"  
  
"She speaks," Ares muttered with a slight smirk playing on his pale features. "I was beginning to think you didn't, and from what the General says, you have quite a mouth on you."  
  
Chase noticed for the first time since she had woken that she was still in her sleeping pants and tank top. Her glare intensified. "Shi ne."  
  
"I'm sure," the captain answered. "But until you get a chance the General would like a word with you. Obviously you can't see him while wearing that that-" he pointed at her attire - "so I suggest that you look in the closet and find something suitable."  
  
Chase watched him leave, and then stood. She padded her way over to the small closet and found two dresses. She groaned. She hated dresses. They were the same, but two separate sizes. She pulled down the one closest to her size and put it on, noticing that it was something she would never wear.  
  
The young assassin scrunched her nose slightly and changed. She turned in the mirror to look at herself. Very rarely did she wear dresses at all. Her wedding had been the first time since she entered the world, and some other events in the past years had required more formal wear than she was use to. Meeting an enemy was not one of them. That usually required her tank top and jeans or her flight/space suit.  
  
A light knock on the door startled her. It slid open and Ares stepped in. "It suits you."  
  
"No, it doesn't," Chase replied simply. "I despise dresses."  
  
"It still suits you," Ares answered. "General Tyler wishes to see you now."  
  
The small pilot frowned deeply, but complied. She walked after the captain of the ship, careful not to trip over the long dress. At least it was black. That suited her mood at the current time.  
  
They reached a door and it slid open. Chase walked in to see a well - furnished office. Her eyes scanned the darkness, landing on the picture above the fireplace. Her breath caught. The USS Arizona.  
  
"Sadist," she muttered.  
  
"Thank you," Tyler responded with a smile on his face. "Come a little closer, Chase. I'd like a good look at you."  
  
Chase glared as she stepped forward. "You killed all of those innocent people. Doshite?" she asked in harsh Japanese.  
  
"Why do you not speak your native language, Chase?"  
  
This caught her slightly off guard. "That's a pointless question while discussing other matters."  
  
"It's not pointless if I wish to know it."  
  
Chase growled a low curse. Her frustration and anger led to her inability to come up with a worth wild response, so she glared.  
  
Tyler shrugged. "Answer my question and I shall answer yours."  
  
"I am comfortable using the Japanese language." Simple enough. It did not reveal anything further than she intended.  
  
Tyler smiled. "Now, why did I kill all those 'innocent' people, you ask?" A spark lit in his golden eyes. "To get the Gundam pilots attention."  
  
The world stopped suddenly. He did it because of them? All those lives. So many children and families. Because of them? Chase's eyes widened and she paled visibly. No. Masaka.  
  
"I wished to prove that you people aren't the gods that those on Earth believe you to be."  
  
"We never claim to be gods."  
  
"You may not, but the people of Earth see you as the ones that protect them. You are the ones that stand for everything right and good in this universe," he spat out sarcastically. "You are the ones whom take care of those who can do nothing for themselves and punish those who try to steal innocents." He paused, taking a sip of his wine and smiling again. "Did it hurt, Ms. Yuy, to see those children?"  
  
Tears stung the young woman's eyes as she lunged forward, only to be caught by Ares from behind. "Heartless demon!" she hissed.  
  
Tyler smiled again. "I'll take that as a 'yes,' Ms. Yuy. You could have prevented it, you know." He watched her eyes as she glared hatefully at him. "You could have met our demands in the first place."  
  
"Nani? What demands?"  
  
Tyler's eyebrows rose slightly. "Why, the ones we gave to the Earth's government. The different leaders of the Earth knew our demands, yet you failed to take precautions to save the innocents on that ship."  
  
"We knew nothing of your demands. All we knew of is that you've been destroying cities on earth randomly and have now taken to space."  
  
Tyler continued to smile. "Then you weren't well informed, Commander. Apparently none of you were, but that doesn't excuse you. We dropped all the hints necessary. Did it take Mr. Barton that long to figure out where I would strike? I thought he knew enough from my past to predict my future actions. He is quite good at that." The smile on his face turned to more of a smirk, the pleasantness turning to something that sent shivers up Chase's spine. "And you, Commander, had ever resource available to figure out where I would strike and my reasons behind it." He looked down into the remaining liquid in his wine glass, and then met Chase's eyes. "I'd say your grandfather fought in that war, ne? That would be your time period, wouldn't it, Chase Yuy?"  
  
The young pilot's breath caught and she was sure her heart had skipped several beats. How did he know? How could he know? The pilots and Ryuujin were the only ones that knew of her world hopping and not being of that world. Fear ran through her small body. "Naze.?"  
  
Tyler let out a chuckle. "Yare yare, Chase-san, that is not for you to know just yet. Captain, the young lady is looking rather ill. Please escort her back to her room."  
  
"Iie," Chase said in a low growl. She pulled away from Ares' grip and slammed the palms of her hands against Tyler's desk, upsetting the glass set there. He frowned as it spilled, but made no move to clean it. "I want answers, yaro," she hissed. "I want to know just how much you know of me and how. I want to know why you are attacking the innocent people of this world and what this new gundanium type material is."  
  
Tyler smirked once more as he noticed the cross hanging from the woman's neck. "What are your beliefs, Chase? Does this mean something or is it just a symbol you wear?"  
  
"I believe what it stands for," the pilot whispered.  
  
Tyler chuckled. "Could you stand before your God now with hands as bloodied and filthy as yours? That is what the people don't know, isn't it, Ms. Yuy? They don't know how many of the innocent people you have killed in order to save them all. Was it worth it, Commander? Was it worth all the innocent blood you shed?" The glint in the man's eyes returned. "Could you stand before your God today?" he repeated. For good measure, he wrapped his fingers around the necklace and tugged hard. The young pilot's hands on the desk kept her from falling with it, but the necklace was ripped from her neck. "Take the young lady back to her room."  
  
Ares grabbed onto Chase's bare shoulders and pulled her with him, whispering into her ear, "If you don't struggle, it will make it easier on both of us."  
  
Chase watched Tyler's smug face as she was dragged out. "Yaro!" she called back at the closing door, face read with anger.  
  
Ares led her back to the room and entered behind her, closing it after him. He stood on a chair and took down a small listening devise from its hiding spot. "It's best if a woman has her privacy, ne?" He turned to the young woman, eyes locking with hers. "Why do you do what you do? And what did he mean by what he said in there?"  
  
Chase took a deep breath. "I believe innocents needs to be preserved as long as possible, and if you go around killing it like you did that can't happen," she hissed. She saw the younger man's eyes drop to the floor and her voice softened involuntarily. "And the other is my business alone. And you, Ares? Why do you follow that demon in there blindly?"  
  
Ares shrugged as he dropped into a chair and slouched back. "It's what I've known the past six years."  
  
"Six years?"  
  
"Like the General's comments, my past is none of your business, Commander." He sighed heavily. "I'm tired of all this. I want out." His violet-flecked eyes focused on her emerald ones. "If I help you escape, will you help me in return?"  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"She's gone," Heero announced as he entered the mess hall where everyone was eating breakfast.  
  
"Excuse me?" Anna asked as her ears perked. She knew that something had happened between Chase and Heero the morning before, but didn't quite know what. Something that had to do with Trowa.  
  
"Chase is gone. She's not in our room. She's not anywhere to be found."  
  
"HEERO!!" a frantic voice sounded from down the hallway.  
  
The group turned to see a wide-eyed Marimaea Kushranada running down the hallway and strait toward them. Her blue eyes locked with the elder man's and she caught her breath. "Chase-nee-san is missing!"  
  
"I know. It would be helpful to know where."  
  
The young teen shook her head. "A man came last night. I was out of my room - please don't tell Une-sama - and I saw him break into yours and Chase's room. A man that was standing guard caught me and knocked me out. Sally- san just let me out of the med room, gomen ne!" she said as she bowed, finishing her explanation.  
  
"Do you know what the man looked like?" Trowa asked from his spot at the table.  
  
"He was small, Asian and European mix, dark hair and dark eyes, and he was wearing a red uniform shirt with the emblem of the New Revolution soldiers on it. Tyler took Chase-nee-san!"  
  
Heero's eyes narrowed and he started out.  
  
"Heero!"  
  
He turned and faced Anna. "Unless you're coming with me to help find her, shut up and let me go."  
  
The young woman smirked. "That's my best friend. I'm not letting you go alone."  
  
"Nor am I," Trowa said as he stood. "I know there are unresolved problems between the three of us at the moment, but I would like to help find her. Heero, let us put this behind us to save your wife, ne?"  
  
Heero nodded. "Fine. Whoever is coming, hurry up and come."  
  
"Heero?" The Japanese man turned to meet the wide blue eyes of the small redhead. "Bring Chase-nee-san back safe, ne?" the little girl asked. "Onegai?"  
  
"I'll do my best."  
  
"Domo arigatou!" the young teen exclaimed as she hugged him around the waist. He nodded and left, the other pilots and Ryuujin going with him.  
  
Marimaea watched them leave the Pacific with hopeful eyes. She felt Une's hand rest on her shoulder. "Do you think they'll find her in time?"  
  
"I'm sure they will," Lady Une responded with a smile. "Anyways, you know Chase is a fighter. She won't go down easily."  
  
Marimaea nodded with a smile.  
  
Profile: 04  
  
Name: Quatre Winner Age: 21 Height: 5'11 Weight: 150lbs Hair Colour: blond Eye Colour: Aqua Gundam: Sandrock Custom Past: The son of a wealthy business man on L4, he was the youngest and only boy amongst 29 (test tube) sisters.  
  
Chase blinked confused green eyes. "Help you escape?"  
  
"I'm a prisoner of my own ship. As long as Tyler's here I've got no control over my own actions without my life being threatened. I've seen firsthand what he does to people who he believes are in the way."  
  
"He killed your family, didn't he, Ares?" Chase asked in a soft voice.  
  
"Yes," Ares whispered, eyes thoughtful at the memories that flooded back. "My parents I know for sure. He made sure I saw that. He told me later on that he had killed Luke, Lin, and Lydia-chan." He smiled as he thought of his youngest sister. His eyes flashed as hatred ran through them. "I have had no choice but to do this, and after the Atlantic incident I had about decided I'd rather die than do that again. I had been making plans for my crew when he demanded to have you brought here. Now I feel responsible for you as well."  
  
Chase's eyes softened towards the young man. She placed a hand on his shoulder. "You can come with us, Lee-kun," she said with a smile. "Do what we do."  
  
"And what is that?"  
  
"Repent our sins by trying to preserve more innocents than we have destroyed. You can't repent if you are dead, ne?"  
  
Ares looked at the smiling woman before him. "Domo arigatou, Chase- san. You remind me of my little sister, do you know that?"  
  
Chase blinked. "How's that?"  
  
"Untamable and unyielding spirit. That can be a good thing, especially with you," he said when he received a strange look. "A strong will, in a way. I've seen what the Gundam pilots went through and I know how hard it must be to look yourself in the mirror. I know after all those people."  
  
"Don't worry, ne, Lee-kun? Let's go."  
  
He nodded and stood from his chair. He pulled a spare gun from his belt and handed it to the young pilot. She took it and ran a hand over it, inspecting it and finding the safety, unlocking it. A smirk appeared across her face. "Let's go."  
  
A/N: Yet another chapter done. I tried to make Lee-kun's past dramatic as possible for future chapters. It will work its way in again. ^_~ Anyway, as you may have noticed (and may even know if you've read other works with Chase-chan in it) that Chase has trouble with different things. Especially handling her emotions. She had a difficult time confronting Trowa with her apology and waited the longest possible time to talk to Heero on what he over heard. This probably made matters worse, giving him time to mull over it and her time to become angry over his absence and quickness to jump to the conclusions on her and Trowa's relationship. I'm sure you noticed how evil Tyler really is. I wrote this story for the fist time probably about a year ago. I've really learned a lot through working on Time and Time Again with Anna-chan and other pieces of work of done along the way. I hated Tyler the fist time around, this time I despise the ground he walks on. The man is pure evil and should be locked away for eternity. And as to the "yaro" it means bastard. *shrugs* He is. TBC 


	5. to return to the arms of the one she lov...

Chapter Five: The Return to the Arms of the One She Loves  
  
The bright red lights flared up as Chase and Ares made their way down the corridor. The young woman turned a worried look toward the young man at her side. "Have they found us out?"  
  
"No. Someone's here for you."  
  
The ship rocked and the sounds of explosives going off sounded. Chase braced herself against the wall, and then continued on. She turned when she heard a voice behind her, but was sadly met by Victor's enraged gold eyes.  
  
"You think I'd let you go that easily, Chase?" he hissed.  
  
Chase leveled her gun at him, but another tremor through the ship through her aim off. She glared at him and he chuckled. His smile turned to a frown as he focused on Ares. "And to think I trusted you, boy."  
  
"Your mistake."  
  
The frown deepened as he focused on something behind Chase. "You know I'll kill him. Your husband, I mean, Ms. Yuy."  
  
"Over my dead, rotting body," the pilot hissed. "Leave him alone." Chase turned as she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Heero."  
  
"Konichi wa," he whispered. "Would you like to come back now? There's a little girl there that is very worried about you and your husband has nearly lost his mind now."  
  
Chase smiled and hugged him.  
  
"Touching. Really," Tyler muttered sarcastically. "But I'm afraid I won't just hand her over that easily, Yuy."  
  
Heero took a step in front of his wife. "Can you trust him," he asked, nodding toward Ares.  
  
"Hai. He's a captor turned friend," she replied.  
  
"Then get out of here. Anna and Wufei are looking for you around the docking bay."  
  
"And what about you?"  
  
"I'll be covering your retreat. I'll catch up. Just go."  
  
Ares took her wrist in his hand. "Chase-san, we need to go if we are to escape this."  
  
"You better be back by the time we leave," Chase hissed at her husband.  
  
Heero turned back to Tyler who stood waiting. The elder man smirked. "You have a very spirited wife, Yuy. I like that." He dodged as Heero through a punch, anger making him sloppy. "I want to break it. Break that spirit of hers."  
  
Heero's eyes widened as a punch connected solidly with his ribs. He coughed, attempting to catch the breath fleeing from his lungs. He dropped to one knee and glared up.  
  
"Giving up so quickly, Yuy? I thought you cared more about your dear Chase-chan," the golden-eyed man taunted.  
  
Heero allowed a shadow of a smirk to cross his features as he drew his gun and rammed the butt of it across the older man's jaw in one quick motion, causing the elder man to stagger back. The Japanese man stood and leveled the gun.  
  
"Leave here, boy," Tyler hissed. "We'll continue this some other time."  
  
Heero started to press the trigger, but was stopped by the sound of soldiers' boots on the metal floors. He glared. "Another time then," he said as he disappeared out of site.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Chase rushed to meet him as soon as he rounded the corner into the docking bay. Her arms wrapped around his neck and the scent of jasmine filled his nose once more. He held her close for a moment, and then pulled back. "We need to leave."  
  
She nodded her understanding as she turned to her friends. The Gundams were waiting for their pilots. "Anna," the green eyed pilot called.  
  
Ocean blue eyes turned towards the smaller woman. "Hai?"  
  
"Do me a favor and take Lee-kun?"  
  
Anna cocked her head slightly. "Lee-kun?" Her attention turned to the man she had briefly noticed accompany Chase as she had rounded the corner a few minutes before.  
  
He smiled slightly, bowing his head. "Lee Ares, former Captain of this ship."  
  
"Be thankful you said former, Sparky, or Wufei there might have killed you on the spot."  
  
Ares turned, eyes widening slightly. He turned back to Chase with an uneasy look on his pale features. "Don't worry, kiddo," Anna continued. "You'll live. You're a friend of Chase's. You'll live."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
The trip back to the Pacific was more of a blur than anything to Chase Yuy. She remembered Marimaea greeting them as soon as they landed, but it was hazed over with exhaustion. She had not felt this sort of exhaustion in a good while. Not since before she had come to this world.  
  
She felt Heero lead her to their room, an assurance from Trowa that he would take care of Lee Ares and get him adequate accommodations. Chase simply nodded and allowed her husband to lead her down the hall.  
  
She crawled into a pair of sleeping clothes and into bed. She felt Heero slip under the covers next to her. "I hate to bring this up now, Chase-chan, demo."  
  
"Go ahead."  
  
"Why did you not tell me?"  
  
Tired emerald eyes focused in on dark blue ones. "I didn't want you to treat him like you treat Ryuujin."  
  
Heero sighed. "Chase-chan, there are reasons beyond that as to why I treat Ryuujin the way I do."  
  
"But that is a factor. Please don't be cold to him. He's still my friend, and yours as well." She yawned. "And Heero? Please don't be cold to Ryu-kun."  
  
Heero smiled and wrapped an arm around Chase's slender body. "Hai, to both, Chase-chan. Hai to both."  
  
"Heero?"  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"Do you think this is a dream? Some sort of fantasy that one or both of us as made up in our heads and are living out? Some sort of desperate escape from reality?"  
  
"I hope not."  
  
"Doshite?"  
  
"Because if it were a dream, I would not be able to wake."  
  
"Doshite?"  
  
Her husband smiled. "Because you would not be there if I woke."  
  
Chase snuggled close. "Domo arigatou, Heero," she whispered. Sometimes she needed that extra reassurance. He always seemed to know when to give it to her.  
  
Profile 05  
  
Name: Chang Wufei Age: 21 Height: 5'11'' Weight: 156lbs Hair Colour: Black Eye Colour: Black Gundam: Altron Past: Studied to be a scholar until age fourteen when he was married. His wife died.  
  
A/N: Poor Fei-kun. It's late and I don't feel like writing a profile. @_@ Anyway, sorry for the ultra short chapter. That's really unlike me, ne? And so is the short A/N, but I need to get this to Anna. It's late on Saturday night and I need to get up and go to church in the morning. *yawns* Anyhow, g'night... TBC 


	6. Oh to be in love

Chapter Six: Oh to be in love..  
  
Dark emerald eyes fluttered open the next morning and were met by dark blue. "Did I sleep late?"  
  
"Hai."  
  
"Why didn't you go ahead and get up?"  
  
"Because I wanted to stay." Heero put an arm around her and pulled her closer.  
  
Chase smiled into the t-shirt that her husband was wearing and wrapped one slender arm around his waist. "Ai shittaru, Heero," she whispered. "You know that, ne?"  
  
"Hai," he whispered into her hair. "I should never question it."  
  
Chase smiled and sat up, receiving a frown from her husband at the sudden movement away from his embrace. She grinned down at him and swung her legs off the bed, standing. "Can't sleep the day away, ne? We've got a war to settle."  
  
Heero chuckled from his place and stood as well. His dark eyes watched Chase move around the room and gather her uniform shirt and slacks for the day. The uniform for the Preventers that he had seen her wear every day for the past several weeks on the ship when she wasn't in her typical jeans and tank top.  
  
"Are you just going to sit there all day, Yuy?" the slightly younger woman taunted. "Get moving, ne?"  
  
Heero smiled and did as requested.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Chase-nee-san!!"  
  
Chase was glomped upon entering the mess hall by a certain red headed teen with large blue eyes. She laughed and pried the girl off.  
  
"You won't leave again, Chase-nee-san, will you?" the girl demanded.  
  
"Iie, Mari-chan. I'm stuck here for a while longer."  
  
"And you and Heero-kun made up, ne?"  
  
It amazed Chase at the innocents beaming in the child's eyes. "Hai, hai," the green eyed pilot reassured her. "We've made up and are together."  
  
"Yosh!" she exclaimed with a grin on her face. "They've got waffles this morning, Chase-nee-san!"  
  
"Honto ni? I'll be there shortly, ne?"  
  
"Hai!" That arranged, the girl darted off for the breakfast buffet.  
  
Chase turned to where Lee Ares was standing sheepishly off to the side. His hair, though dark enough to be mistaken for black, made him stand out amongst the other people in the room, excluding Ryuujin and his light blue-tented hair. The American laughed, and then dismissed the thought that ran through her mind on the coincidence that the two had odd coloured hair.  
  
"Ne, Lee-kun?" Chase called out to him, a smile on her face. "Did you sleep well?"  
  
"Hai, Chase-san," the younger man said quietly. "Very well."  
  
"I see Trowa-kun gave you something to wear besides your uniform. That was nice of him."  
  
"Actually, these clothes belong to him," the former captain said, pointing to Quatre, whom was not much taller than the speaker.  
  
"That's Quatre Winner. I guess he probably is close to your size, ne? Heero would be closer."  
  
"Heero-san is your husband, ne?"  
  
"Hai. For four years now. Wow.. That's kind of a long time, ne?"  
  
Ares smiled and turned his attention back to the crowd of Gundam pilots. "Who's the one with the blue hair?"  
  
"That's Ryuujin."  
  
"Is there a reason Ryuujin-san has blue hair.?  
  
"Is there a reason you have violet hair?" the young woman replied casually.  
  
Lee Ares smiled. "I see your point, Chase-san."  
  
"Ryuujin wa. Ryuujin da yo," Chase said with a shrug of her small shoulders. Her eyes turned serious. "Lady Une will want to speak to you about Tyler."  
  
"I expected as much."  
  
Chase nodded. "Where will he hit next, Lee-kun?"  
  
"I'm afraid I don't know that information, Chase-san. General Tyler never told me of any of his plans until it was almost upon the time he wanted them done."  
  
"Even the attack on the Atlantic?"  
  
The mention of the ship they had attacked earlier that week sent chills up Ares' spine. Blood had never been a pleasant sight to him, and occasionally it had made him physically sick to smell it. After the Atlantic affair, he had been in bed sick for a day and a half. Now, even thinking of it made him want to hurl. The dead bodies, the children. He hadn't realized there had been so many children..  
  
"Hai, Chase-san," he managed.  
  
"Daijoubu ka, Lee-kun?"  
  
He nodded and smiled slightly. "Daijoubu."  
  
Chase began to inquire further, but stopped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned and was met by a pair of ocean blue eyes looking down on her.  
  
"Ne, Chase-chan, could I have a word with you?" Anna asked pleasantly. "If you'll excuse us, Ares-san."  
  
Ares nodded as he watched Chase being half dragged out of the mess hall and into the hallway.  
  
Anna stopped only when she was sure she was out of hearing range. "I've been dying to ask you-"  
  
"What was with that?" Chase asked, cocking her head slightly. "I was in the middle of a conversation!"  
  
"If you'd let me finish-"  
  
"I was trying to get some answers!"  
  
"Chase?"  
  
"Eh?"  
  
"URESAI!"  
  
Chase blinked up at her friend, oblivious.  
  
Anna sweatdropped. "Now, if you'll let me finish?" Her friend nodded. "Okay, Ares-san rode back in the Star with me. Anou. he seemed just a tad."  
  
"Spit it out!"  
  
A glare shut her up. "Anou. Is Lee Ares gay?"  
  
Had the question come from anyone else, they might find themselves free floating in space about that time, but this was Anna asking Chase. The smaller of the two friends looked very serious for a moment, but then lost the self-control she was trying so hard to retain. A smile broke out on her naturally pale face and she started to laugh.  
  
Anna glared. "Nani?" she demanded.  
  
Chase grinned. "Nothing, Anna-chan. It's nothing at all."  
  
"Well is he or isn't he?"  
  
"Iie, Anna-chan, Lee-kun is not gay." The smaller woman stopped a moment, thinking. She blinked twice, and then looked back up at her friend. "Not that I know of anyway."  
  
Anan sweatdropped as she stared at her petite friend. "Only you, Chase-chan. Only you."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Later that afternoon, Chase and Anna found their way to the observatory upon Jack's command. The two young pilots had smiled and taken him willingly, both liking the view.  
  
Chase sat in the middle of what appeared to be nothingness as she stared out at the stars, glancing every-once-and-a-while at the young boy ran around, making sounds and then switching directions abruptly. Upon being asked what he was playing, he replied that he was "playing Gundam pilots" and he was in the Deathscythe Hell that his daddy piloted.  
  
Anna took a seat next to her smaller friend and smiled, watching her son. "The ordeal at the Atlantic made me think," she said quietly.  
  
"About Jack?"  
  
"Hai. Duo too. It made me grateful."  
  
"I suppose that would be one thing good that came of all that."  
  
Anna nodded and tilted her head back, looking upward. "Did you ever imagine it would happen like this?"  
  
"Iie. How could I?"  
  
Anna smiled. "I guess no one could. Are you happy?"  
  
"Hai. Happier than I ever was in our own world."  
  
Anna returned her gaze to the small pilot at her side, who was fixated on something unseen in the star filled sky. She then saw her friend turn her emerald gaze on the small boy running around with his arms outstretched. "Do you ever wish you had a child?"  
  
Chase blinked, turning to face Anna. "No."  
  
"Doshite?"  
  
"I'm happy as I am."  
  
Anna nodded, taking in Chase's words. There was something more to that. Her friend had never been that simple. She never would be. "Do you think you and Heero will ever have children? It would be nice for Jack to have a friend like that, ne?"  
  
Chase shook her head negatively. "I don't want a child, Anna. I never did, and I am certain of that now."  
  
"Care to expand on that?"  
  
The emerald-eyed pilot took a deep breath. "Before we came here, I knew I didn't want children of my own. Now that I'm here, doing what I do, I am certain beyond a shadow of a doubt that I don't want to bring a child into this world. Not one with Heero's and my blood in it. Do you know what kind of problems that child would inherit?" She frowned thoughtfully. "I couldn't bare to leave a child behind while I went off to a battle. I'm not sure how you do it, but I know I couldn't. I'm not like you in that way."  
  
"Then."  
  
"Retire from it? Is that what you were going to say?"  
  
"I've thought of it. Do you miss normality?"  
  
"No. I could never stand people that were called normal. I was never one of them and they never accepted me. I would not be able to go back to a civilian way of life. It's not in my character any longer. I am an assassin now. That's what I'll do until I die."  
  
"You'll get too old someday."  
  
"I won't live that long."  
  
Anna blinked, but otherwise, did not changer her expression. She simply kept her eyes fixed on her slightly younger friend.  
  
Chase smiled, eyes sad. "Don't look at me like that, tamadachi. You and I are mortal, just like our husbands and just like our friends. We are all mortal. We will die. We knew this could kill us someday, and someday it will kill me. I'll allow it to someday. That is why I don't want a child. I don't want to leave a child without a mother."  
  
Anna sat for a moment, absorbing the words. "You'll allow yourself to die someday?"  
  
"Hai." Chase continued to smile sadly. "Let's just say I don't want to outlive certain people, ne?"  
  
Anna nodded, taking the conversation as closed. Chase had her reasons for living, and if those were taken away, Chase was gone. It didn't matter if she was there physically or not. She would die inside. The small pilot had never been strong emotionally. She had always been unstable, but if something were to take away one of her pillars in her life, she would crumble and fall. Chase Yuy would find a way to die if someone special were taken from her.  
  
"Aunty Chase!" Jack called out. "Lookit! Lookit!" he cried, pointing a small finger at a star shooting through the sky.  
  
Chase smiled. "Hai, Jack-chan," she answered. "It's pretty."  
  
Jack beamed.  
  
Chase continued to smile at him as she stood. "I'll see you later, Anna-chan."  
  
"Ja ne."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Chase found herself wondering down the hallways aimlessly. She wasn't sure what she wanted, to be honest with herself. She wanted happiness. She wanted a life that she could live out with the man she loved. She wanted all of these multiple disasters to stop.  
  
What did she want?  
  
Her emerald orbs caught sight of the window out to space. She had always wanted to go traveling. She had wanted to get away and see things that she thought it would be impossible to see. She had always wanted to love like she loved here.  
  
She looked up from her fixation on the window when she felt two arms encircle her. "You should be more aware of your surroundings, ai."  
  
A smile crossed her thin lips. "I was thinking."  
  
"About?"  
  
Chase looked up at her husband, eyes locking with his. "Do you want a family, Heero?"  
  
The Japanese man blinked. "This has never come up. Why now?"  
  
"Anna-chan and I were talking.."  
  
"I'm not sure I could handle a family at the moment. There's a war beginning."  
  
"It'll end soon, Heero," Chase whispered as she turned and wrapped her arms around his neck. "When it ends, what do you want?"  
  
Heero smiled slightly. "What do you want, ai?"  
  
"I want." Chase trailed off, eyes locking with her husband's. "I want to always have someone to love. I want to always be loved. I never want to be alone again. I hate being alone."  
  
Heero smiled and embraced her. "Then you'll never be alone, Chase- chan," he whispered into her hair. "I won't ever leave you alone."  
  
"Promise?"  
  
"Hai."  
  
"I had this dream once," the small pilot whispered. "It was perfect. We were back in the cabin. All of us. We were all happy." She closed her eyes, remembering. "Jack was older, and he played with Mari and a little girl that had your eyes. She called me 'Mommy.'"  
  
Heero smiled. "That can come true, if you want it."  
  
Chase stopped for a moment. "What if it hadn't turned out this way, Heero?" she asked the question that had plagued her mind since Ryuujin had come on board the ship. "What if you hadn't asked me to marry you, or I hadn't finally said yes?"  
  
Her husband blinked. "I don't know. I suppose Ryuujin or Trowa would be happier."  
  
"I hate this." she whispered. "Why does one person have to be left for the other to love?"  
  
Heero ran a finger along her jaw line, smiling slightly. "Because it's always been that way. You had to make a choice. Do you believe you chose wisely?"  
  
"Hai. After this is over, I just want to be with you," Chase whispered. "I don't want anything more or less. I would be happy anywhere if I'm with you."  
  
Heero gave her a small smile. "Anything for you, Chase-chan," he whispered as he kissed her lightly on the cheek. "I'd do anything for you, you do realize that, ne? Die for you. Live for you. Anything that you asked."  
  
"I heard a song once in my world and the woman was saying that the only way she knew how to love would be to allow the man she loved anything he wanted. Even if that meant giving him up, because that was the only way she could truly express her love." *  
  
"Ne, Chase! Heero! You won't believe who showed up.. Eh.. Gomen!"  
  
The couple turned to see Quatre Winner standing with a deep crimson colour flushed across his face. Chase chuckled at the expression. "Dare, Quatre?"  
  
"Dorothy!" the blond exclaimed, sounding excited, though still slightly embarrassed that he had walked in on a tender moment between the Yuys.  
  
Chase smiled. "That's great, Quat. Why aren't you with her?"  
  
"Oh. She said she had to freshen up and then she'd come eat dinner with me."  
  
Heero lifted an eyebrow. "Just the two of you?"  
  
Quatre blushed a bit. "Yes.. Well.. She's been helping out a lot with my corporations that I've inherited, so we'll be talking business.."  
  
"Of course you will," Chase said with a sly look on her face. "You two have fun."  
  
Quatre nodded with a sheepish smile. "Of course!"  
  
Chase and Heero watched him walk off, a little lighter on his feet than he'd been in days. The two turned and smiled to each other before walking off, Heero's arm around his wife's shoulders.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Profile 06  
  
Name: Chase Yuy  
  
Age: 21  
  
Height: 5'3''  
  
Weight: 98 lbs  
  
Hair Colour: Brown  
  
Eye Colour: green  
  
Gundam: Galaxy  
  
Past: Chase was taken from the year 2000AD and thrown into 195AC along with her good friend Anna at age fourteen, nearly fifteen. She fought in the war along side the Gundam pilots and married Heero Yuy when she was seventeen.  
  
A/N: Well that's the next chapter! Whoohoo! Go me! Please R&R! Oh, and also, the song that Chase is talking about is an Alanis Morrisette song. ^^ Off of "Under a Rug Swept" 


	7. To live and die by your side

Chapter Seven: To Live and Die by Your Side  
  
Chase stood as Lee Ares stepped out of Lady Une's office. "I've told her all I know," he said quietly.  
  
The small pilot gave him an encouraging smile. "And that's all she asked, I'm sure."  
  
Ares looked as if he were thinking very hard on one thing. He closed his eyes, mind in turmoil. When he reopened them, they were hard, much like the night that he had come to take Chase away. "I want to go with you," he said, his voice slightly cracked.  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
"I want to go with you and the Gundam pilots to take out Tyler."  
  
"That's not necessary, Lee-kun. I wouldn't ask.."  
  
"I know you wouldn't. That's why I'm offering. Une-sama said to ask all of you, because in the end, it would be all of your choices."  
  
Chase nodded. "Well, we were all going discuss our plan of attack over dinner and then go into a meeting with Lady Une. I think you should join us for dinner tonight if you're serious."  
  
"I'm very serious, Chase-san."  
  
The pilot of the Galaxy nodded. "Be sure you know what you're getting into, Lee-kun. We can't promise your safe return."  
  
"I understand fully."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"I'd say no one has a problem with it," Heero said as he took a sip of his sake. He and Chase had been pleasantly surprised to find the Japanese rice wine on the ship some days ago.  
  
"Then I hope I can only help," Ares responded. "I can show you detailed maps and tell you where to go for everything. I know the ship like the back of my hand."  
  
"May I make a proposition?" Anna asked. Everyone nodded. "I say we try to shed as little blood as possible. Only Tyler, if at all possible. We should put this ship into the hands of its rightful captain."  
  
Ares gave her an odd look and a sad smile when everyone nodded their agreement. "Thank you," he whispered.  
  
"We owe ya," Ryuujin said, setting down his own cup of some sort of liquor than no one was quite sure what was in it. "You're the one that got us the information we need for this attack anyway."  
  
"I did that because I felt it was right, not for any reward," Ares whispered.  
  
"More the reason to help," Quatre said with a smile.  
  
Ares smiled again. "Thank you, everyone," he whispered. "Thank you so much..."  
  
Chase grinned and placed a hand on his shoulder. "We live to repent," she whispered and stood, starting off to the meeting.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Chase sank back into the depths of the ZERO System and let her mind go. She saw images fly around her as someone had hit the fast forward button on a video. Her eyes blanked for a moment and she briefly wondered why she had become so dependent on the dangerous system.  
  
In a way, she admitted only to herself, the ZERO System was like a drug. Addictive and helpful for a short while, but with potentially deadly side effects. She remembered all too well Quatre's run in with it and the loss Ryuujin still had from that run in, and the sorrow that plagued the blond pilot day in and day out from that one time.  
  
Emerald eyes snapped open. "Ikou yo," she whispered into the comm. system.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
The Gundams set down with little to no resistance, which made them a bit anxious. Tyler knew they were coming.  
  
"Tyler will be in his personal chambers. The ones where you met him, Chase-san," Ares stated. He checked his watch. "Whether they know we're here or not, the guards will change their post on the door entering the hallway where Tyler's quarters are in two minutes exactly. We have to wait for that exact time."  
  
"Anna, Duo, and Wufei should go down to the weapons bay and disable what you can," Heero instructed. "Quatre, Trowa and Ryuujin, you three are heading to the control room and doing what damage you can do there." He turned to his wife. "I'm assuming you want to be the one to take him out. Or at least be there."  
  
Hatred burned in her eyes, making them much darker. "Yes," she whispered.  
  
"What do you want me to do?" Ares asked.  
  
Heero closed his eyes for a moment. "You were a last minute addition to all this. I hadn't gotten that far yet."  
  
"Then let me do something for myself," he said quietly. "I need to regain my ship."  
  
Heero nodded. "Call for backup if you need it."  
  
"I won't."  
  
The Japanese man nodded. "Arigatou, Ares-san. You don't know what a help you've been to us all."  
  
Ares smiled. "And you wouldn't begin to think of what you all have done for me."  
  
Heero nodded again. "Ikou yo, minna-san."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Of all the group that bastard had to stick me with," Ryuujin muttered harshly, not caring if Trowa and Quatre heard.  
  
Quatre caught it. "Ryuujin-san," he said quietly, "I do not wish for any of us to die here, but if we do not work as a team, we most certainly will. Please, can we put this behind us for a moment? Just a while until we can get this done."  
  
The blue haired man glared daggers at the small Arabian man. "Who the hell are you to tell me to put what you did behind me?" he demanded.  
  
"I'll tell you this, Ryuujin," Trowa said evenly. "If you don't straiten out you WILL get one of us killed. I will not stand for it. Either put your personal feelings aside or I will remove you. I have enough authority to do so and so help me I will. I'm not saying that it will be one of us in this small group hurt or killed, it could be any one of the pilots." He paused. "Including Chase."  
  
This caught Ryuujin's attention. "Fine," he bit out. "Let's just get this done."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Ares felt the gun pressed against the small of his back before he head a familiar hiss in his ear. "Lee Ares, former Captain of this ship, you are under arrest for treason to the New Revolution."  
  
"Dimitri," Ares whispered the name quietly so no one else would hear. "It's been a while."  
  
"I'm disappointed, Captain. His Expectancy General Tyler had such high hopes for you."  
  
"I'm sure he did," Ares said. "But I had higher." He spun away from the gun and caught Dimitri by surprise, slamming a fist into the slightly taller man's gut. "I'm sorry, old friend," he whispered, "but vengeance is going to be mine today."  
  
A shot rang out through the all way and Ares felt the sharp pain in his right shoulder. He gasped in shock and fell to his knees. "Dimitri shouldn't have been sent," a new voice said. "He was too close to you when he worked under you. I, on the other hand, have not attatchments to you, Ares," the man growled, pressing down hard on the former captain's wounded shoulder.  
  
Ares gasped again. "Who.?"  
  
"Your successor. That's all you need to know," the man stated as he brought the butt of the gun across Ares' scull.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"There it is," Chase whispered. "Looks like the guards are changing now."  
  
"We timed it perfectly then," Heero answered, his voice hushed as well. "Ikou."  
  
The two stepped forward and entered the room with their guns drawn. They found themselves surrounded in complete darkness. "What the hell?" Chase growled.  
  
"Your language, Ms. Yuy, has never suited a woman of your beauty," Tyler's voice said from the dark.  
  
"I don't want to hear it from you, Tyler," Chase growled. "Come out and face us like a man."  
  
A couple of dim lights flickered on and her emerald eyes met haunting gold ones. "Do you know how I knew that you were not of this world, Ms. Yuy?" he asked as he stood. He smiled a chilling smile. "You see, my father wasn't really part of OZ. I had that information created to gather followers mostly. My father was a scientist." He walked around the desk and towards the fire that had suddenly started blazing. "He made a mistake one day, and I happened to be there to witness, and to have my life changed. I was taken from my home in Texas to this world." The smile returned. "Yes, Chase, I am like you, not of this place nor this time." He reached forward to touch her, but she jerked back, gun in hand.  
  
"Don't. Come. Near. Me," she bit out.  
  
He smiled coldly as he lunged forward, catching the pilot off her guard. He grabbed her gun and aimed it at her husband. "Really, he is such a hassle for me," Tyler muttered.  
  
"Heero!"  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Something's happened," Quatre whispered.  
  
"What?"  
  
"I don't know. Something's gone wrong on Chase and Heero's end. I can't."  
  
"Stay here, get done what needs to be done," Trowa ordered. "Ryuujin, keep in mind what I said earlier."  
  
"Yeah yeah," the elder man muttered.  
  
Trowa nodded and rushed off. He rounded the corner to come face to face with a guard. "Surprise, surprise," he muttered under his breath. "They do have guards."  
  
"Don't move."  
  
The guard before him was really no more than a boy. Trowa jumped to one side dodging the bullet that followed and came up and around, knocking the boy out cold. The green eyed pilot reached down for the fallen boy's gun and heard another one go off behind him. He gasped as he felt the impact of the bullet with his body and fell to the ground, blood pooling around him.  
  
"What do we do with him?" one of the men asked.  
  
"Leave him for his buddies to find and mourn."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
The gun went off and Heero stumbled back, blue eyes wide. His mind slowly registered the past seconds' events as he felt his knees give way below him.  
  
The Perfect Soldier collapsed into his wife's arms and she eased him to the ground. "Heero?" she whispered. "Stay with me, please?"  
  
He looked up at her, eyes sad. "Gomen ne, Chase-chan," he whispered, reaching a hand up to touch her face. "I couldn't.. protect you..." He fell limp in her arms.  
  
"No.." she breathed. Her mind raced as she looked up to Tyler who had the gun pointed at her head.  
  
"Such devotion," he spat. "Devotion gets you nowhere in this world, Chase Yuy. This 'love' that you claim to feel for this man is not what will keep you going. How can you love this man? In our world, he doesn't even exist."  
  
Chase's eyes burned with hatred. "We're not in our world."  
  
Tyler smiled a bit. "Ah yes, we're here, aren't we? So you think that love has some significance?"  
  
"It has every significance," she growled.  
  
"I've come to a conclusion," Tyler said, sounding bored with the conversation. "Sometimes, one comes across a spirit that is untamable." He cocked the gun. "I believe this is the case in this situation, Ms. Yuy, but I'm a selfish man. If I can't have you, no one will."  
  
Chase vaguely heard the door slide open and she closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable to happen. Those were most likely Tyler's men coming into the room. She didn't have a chance.  
  
The gun went off and the Destined Soldier braced herself. After nothing happened, she opened one eye to see Tyler staggering back and clinging to his desk for support. "No," he whispered. "I am invisible. I am a god to these people! Not you! Not you damned pilots! I am!" he screamed as best as he could, falling to the ground. "You can't win forever," he rasped before loosing awareness and his life.  
  
Chase looked up and over to where she saw Trowa leaning against the doorframe, gun in his hand. Blood was streaked across his clothes and he looked as if he were about to collapse then and there. "Is Heero alive?" he asked, voice strained.  
  
Chase pulled her husband close, checking his pulse. She nodded. "Trowa-kun. Daijoubu ka?" she whispered.  
  
Trowa nodded. "I'll be all right. Wounds heal in time."  
  
"Trowa!" Quatre's worried voice came from behind. The blond man came running up behind his friend. "Oh my. Trowa!"  
  
"I'm all right, Quatre," the Silencer whispered.  
  
The Arabian nodded. "I just got word from Ares-san. He'd been captured but is now loose. He said he had no choice but to take the ship down and that we should evacuate now."  
  
"We've let the others know, but none of your comms were working," Ryuujin added. "Damn. What happened here?"  
  
"I need your help to get Heero out of here!" Chase barked, taking control of the situation. "Quatre, help Trowa, ne?"  
  
The blond nodded as he slung his best friend's arm around his shoulder. Ryuujin knelt down and picked up the Japanese pilot as carefully as he could. "Don't worry, Chase-chan," he whispered. "He'll be fine. Him and Trowa both."  
  
Chase nodded. "I know."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Ares? You read me?" Chase called into the comm. after she had reached the Galaxy.  
  
"I read you loud and clear, Chase-san," the other man responded. "I'm taking down the ship. I don't think it's salvageable." His voice sounded saddened.  
  
"We'll pick you up," she responded.  
  
"No," Lee Ares called back. "I'm the captain of this ship. I will go down with her."  
  
"Lee-kun." Chase whispered, "No! You can't! Please!"  
  
Lee smiled on her screen. "Thank you for bringing meaning back into this, Chase-san. All of you pilots. Thank you."  
  
Chase felt tears come to her eyes. "I'm sorry we can't save you in the end."  
  
"You have all ready saved me, Chase." He smiled again. "You remind me so much of Lydia-chan," he whispered and the comm. link was cut.  
  
"Everyone get out now!" Chase yelled over to comm.  
  
The ship exploded in the dead of space, light shining everywhere from it. The pilots watched in awe as if fireworks had just been shot into space and lit it up along with the stars. That's about what it looked like.  
  
"Let's get everyone back," Anna whispered, her voice sad. "We need medical attention for some, ne?"  
  
"Roger that," Chase answered.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
The room was dark when twin blue eyes opened. Heero Yuy groaned a bit and attempted to sit up, but found a hand on his shoulder, pushing him back down. "Don't move. You're hurt," Chase's gentle voice reached his ears.  
  
"Chase-chan?" he whispered. "How long.?"  
  
"Not too long," she whispered as she placed a kiss on his forehead, finding his fever all but gone. "A few hours, and probably because of the pain killers that Sally gave you."  
  
He nodded and grabbed her hand, giving it a tight squeeze. "What happened?"  
  
"Trowa got the pleasure of killing him," Chase said with a small smile. "But he was hurt all ready. He was conscious on the way back, so he must be okay, but I haven't seen him." She paused. "Lee Ares died."  
  
Heero gave her a questioning look. "How?"  
  
"He self-destructed the ship, and said he would go down with it," Chase whispered brokenly.  
  
Heero nodded. "Then it was his choice."  
  
"Still.."  
  
"I know, Chase-chan," Heero whispered, wiping a tear from her green eyes. "It'll be all right, though."  
  
"I know. Over time...."  
  
"Yes." He smiled. "Now go see Trowa before he thinks you dropped off the ship, ne? I'll be all right."  
  
"You sure."  
  
"Just go."  
  
Chase gave him a smile and a quick kiss. "Arigatou, Heero-kun."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Chase poked her head into the room where Trowa had been taken to find him buttoning up a loose shirt. He turned to her. "Chase-chan," he greeted.  
  
The Destined Soldier grinned. "Hey there. They letting you go all ready?"  
  
"As long as I promise to rest in my own quarters until we reach Earth," he answered with a small smile.  
  
"That's good then."  
  
"How's Heero feeling?"  
  
"Much better," the small pilot assured him. "He told me to come check on you before you thought I dropped off the ship."  
  
Trowa chuckled at this. "That's good to hear he's not planning to kill me."  
  
"No, I think he's over his little jealous streak."  
  
Trowa nodded. "I'm glad. It was putting a rift between the two of you."  
  
Chase smiled. "You know what, Trowa-kun? I think you're going to meet someone amazing."  
  
He gave her a gentle look. "Honto ni, Chase-chan?"  
  
She nodded. "Yep! And Soon, I bet."  
  
He smiled. "Thank you, Chase-chan."  
  
She winked and headed out of the room. "You better get well soon, Trowa-kun, you hear?" she called on her way out.  
  
"Chase-nee-san!"  
  
Chase turned around to see Mariemaea running up and the little girl wrapped her arms around the elder woman. "I'm so glad you're safe!" she exclaimed. "Une-sama told me to wait until you got back to ask you!"  
  
"Ask me?"  
  
"Une-sama's just so busy that she can barely take care of me anymore. I wanted to know if you and Heero could look after me." She stopped, unsure of how Chase was reacting. "You wouldn't have to adopt me or anything.."  
  
Chase gave the girl a smile. "I'll have to talk to Heero about it, you know. He's half of our marriage, and you did try to kill him once."  
  
"I think that would work out nicely," her husband's voice came from behind her as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders.  
  
"Heero Yuy! What on earth are you doing up?!"  
  
"I was ordered strait to my quarters, but I thought I heard you so I came to see you. I think that's a good idea, Mari-chan," Heero said with a small smile.  
  
Her eyes lit up. "Really?! Oh really, Heero-kun?!"  
  
"Honto."  
  
Mariemaea grinned. "I'm going to go tell Une-sama!" she announced and started to dash off. She stopped, turned and gave both of them a big hug. "Arigatou," she whispered, and ran off down the hall.  
  
Chase turned to her husband and wrapped her arms around him. He leaned down and kissed her. "I love you," he whispered. *~*~*~*~*~*~~*~* Profile 07  
  
Name: Anna Maxwell  
  
Age: 21  
  
Height: 5'7''  
  
Weight: 130 lbs  
  
Hair Colour: Brown  
  
Eye Colour: ocean blue  
  
Gundam: Star  
  
Past: Same as Chase's and she married Duo Maxwell at the age of 17 and had Jack, their son. *glomps Jack* I love him! He's sooo cute!  
  
A/N: Yay! Wrapping up part one! There is another part to go after this! Whole new line of characters! 


End file.
